EU to monitor Aceh peace, first operation in Asia

BRUSSELS, Tuesday (Reuters) - The European Union is readying its first peace monitoring operation in Asia after the rebel Free Aceh movement and the Indonesian government signed a deal to end three decades of war.

"We have received from the two sides the offer to monitor the peace process that was initialled yesterday and we hope will be finalised in mid-August," European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana told a news conference on Monday.

"If that is the case, we are going to prepare all the possibilities inside the EU to deploy the monitors."

Aceh has been the scene of civil war for 30 years, at a cost of 12,000 mostly civilian lives.

But after the tsunami struck the region on Dec. 26, 2004, and following the election of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the two sides started negotiations to end the conflict.

They initialled a memorandum of understanding in Helsinki on Sunday, mediated by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. The two sides plan to sign a formal agreement on Aug. 15.

The Council of EU foreign ministers said the bloc was prepared to send monitors following the request from the rebel movement and the government.

"The Council ... welcomed the successful conclusion of the Helsinki negotiations and agreed that the EU was prepared, in principle, to provide observers to monitor implementation of the memorandum of understanding," the ministers said in a statement.

The EU is developing its nascent foreign policy as it attempts to become a more globally significant political, as well as economic, actor. It has developed a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) to boost its standing.

"This is the first ESDP operation in Asia," Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said.