The Aceh Peace Monitoring Updates (formerly Aceh Conflict Monitoring Updates) are now published by the Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies (CPCRS) at Syiah Kuala University, which is supported by the World Bank and The Asia Foundation. Funding is from DFID, the Royal Embassy of the Netherlands and the World Bank's Post-Conflict Fund. Bappenas oversees the program.

Summary:

Within the context of the continuing peace process in Aceh, a number of important political events such as the legislative elections and the run-up to the presidential election took place between March and June 2009. During this period, violence levels remained high in March (29 cases) with a new spate of elections-related incidents in the run-up to polling day.  Nine new arson and grenade attacks against political parties occurred in March and early April. Two more Partai Aceh (PA)  cadres were murdered and another one narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. These incidents brought the total of elections-related violent cases since the beginning of the campaign in July of last year to 73, including 32 arson and grenade incidents and six murder attempts that resulted in five deaths. However, the elections on April 9th took place peacefully and almost no further violence was reported afterwards. A large number of parties and candidates contested the results and there were allegations of fraud during vote counts but protests decreased after the Constitutional Court dismissed most cases. Over all, despite violence and reports of intimidation and issues pertaining to weak institutional supervision, the 2009 legislative elections in Aceh went relatively well.  The results, which led to PA control of the provincial parliament and a large number of district legislatures, are now largely accepted by political actors and the population. In the context of peacebuilding efforts, PA's landslide victory represents a further step towards the transformation of the former guerilla movement into a mainstream political organization. This bodes well for sustainable peace, but PA will now have to demonstrate its capacity to contribute positively to policy-making, and sort out remaining disagreements with Jakarta with regards to the interpretation and implementation of the peace agreement. In the months following the elections, the numbers of conflicts and violent incidents fell significantly to hit record lows in June, with only 69 new conflicts and four violent cases reported that month. On the other hand, high profile corruption cases involving district government officials were prominent in the last two months.

The update can be downloaded in English and Indonesian version at www.conflictanddevelopment.org.