Press release 02 November 2006
Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Swedish election observers to Aceh

The Government decided today to send three election observers to Aceh province in Indonesia to monitor the local elections on 11 December. The observers will be part of the European Commission's Election Observation Mission.

"The fact that elections can now be held is an important step in the peace process. Our participation should be seen as a follow-up to the commitment we have already shown to this province, which has been severely affected both by conflict and by the tsunami" says Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson.

Sweden has previously contributed both humanitarian and reconstruction support after the tsunami disaster in December 2004. Sweden has also participated in the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), which the EU and ASEAN have jointly established to monitor implementation of the peace agreement concluded in the summer of 2005 between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

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Sida is responsible for the recruitment and training of Swedish election observers. Questions may be addressed to Sida's election monitoring group.