From Nick Meo in Banda Aceh

THE last batch of combat soldiers in Aceh assembled on the dockside yesterday in full kit and armed to the teeth, ready to embark on their troopships as the final act of a bloody 29-year guerrilla war.

Supaidin Adi Saputra, Aceh’s military commander, told them they should be proud of fighting to keep Indonesia intact — then told the watching Acehnese: “The flame of peace is burning and we must not let anyone extinguish it.”

The head of the feared Indonesian military in Aceh was doing what was almost unthink-able only a year ago; telling its people that the war, one of Asia’s longest and, until last year’s tsunami, most intract-able, was over.

There was a bigger surprise for the departing 3,500 soldiers. Irwandi Yusuf, leader of the GAM (Free Aceh Movement), who 12 months ago was one of their deadliest enemies, was there to shake hands with the hard men in fatigues before their ships slipped away from the jungle-covered hills of Aceh, probably for ever.

The event was stagemanaged. But nobody could doubt the sincerity, part of an extraordinarily successful peace process that has confounded the pessimists and inspired a people who suffered more than any other in the tsunami.

The pullout of soldiers who waged one of Asia’s longest and cruellest military campaigns came days after their former guerrilla enemies in the GAM finished surrendering their weapons for destruction. It was the end of a critical week for the peace process timed to coincide with the anniversary of the disaster in which 170,000 Acehnese died.

In just a year the devastated province has been transformed from a killing ground where mutilated corpses turned up daily into a peaceful place almost free of violence.

When a ceasefire was ordered in August there was widespread scepticism among ordinary Acehnese about the chances of permanent peace. A previous truce collapsed in 2003 and was followed by a bloody army offensive that brought the GAM to its knees.

The fight against central rule from Jakarta had cost around 15,000 lives since the mid-1970s, mostly civilians killed by the military. The separatists have now dropped their independence ambitions and are pledged to struggle purely as a political party at local elections planned for the spring.

Many in the province had feared that army officers would sabotage the peace process this time so they could continue running the lucrative protection and logging rackets considered a perk of service in Aceh. It was also feared that demobilised GAM fighters would turn to crime or continue fighting in the jungle.

In practice both sides have proved disciplined and have stuck rigorously to the terms of the ceasefire, under the supervision of EU monitors. President Yudhoyono of Indonesia and Yusuf Kalla, the Vice-President, have been hailed as peacemakers and foreign donors have applied intense pressure on all parties. Their role was a marked change from the previous lack of international interest in what appeared to be no more than an obscure jungle war before the tsunami.

Yesterday’s withdrawal was the final phase in the departure of 24,000 troops. Around 14,000 locally recruited troops and 9,000 police will remain.

After watching the withdrawal, Dr Yusuf, the senior representative of the GAM, praised the military: “So far so good. But now we are entering the political arena which can be tricky.”

One potential hurdle to be overcome is the need to change Indonesian law to allow the GAM to contest local elections, a plan which some political parties are expected to fight in the legislature. Another problem is finding work and training for demobilised GAM fighters who are starting to come down from their mountain bases, sometimes after years in the jungle.

Everybody agrees that the tsunami created an opportunity to end a war that by 2004 nobody wanted, but from which neither side knew how to extricate itself.

Life in Banda Aceh, the main city, has changed markedly for the better. One Acehnese, Mirzan, who uses one name, said: “The people are not too happy with the pace of reconstruction, but they are happy with the peace process.

“Before it was a ghost town at night. Nobody went out because we feared the police. Now we can have a normal life.”

TERMS OF DISENGAGEMENT

A monitoring mission has been set up by the EU and the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean)

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