ReintegRation Lessons fRom aceh

A 2005 peace deal brought an end to 30 years of secessionist conflict in Aceh, Indonesia. The Helsinki agreement included provisions to disarm fighters from the rebel GAM movement and to reintegrate them into society. Three-and-a-half years on, peace is holding in Aceh. Yet while the Aceh post-war story is broadly positive, the experience of delivering reintegration support to former combatants and others is not. This, in part, is leading to an increase in localized violence in the province. The Aceh experience provides important lessons for international disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) theory and practice. This chapter draws on a number of World Bank studies, including two representative surveys of former combatants (one of which entails interviews with more than 3,000 civilian households), ongoing conflict monitoring, a province-wide survey of infrastructure damage and social relations, and a poverty assessment. The chapter finds that Aceh is peaceful because of the high-level commitment of leadership on both sides and widespread support for peace in Aceh. Yet reintegration programmes for former combatants have not played a key role in supporting peace; at times, they have increased tensions. The reintegration programme in Aceh drew from a set of assumptions derived from other post-war settings that did not fit well with the Aceh situation.