Observers from the European Union took part for the first time on Monday in the peace talks between the Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that are currently being led by the former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari in Finland.
The idea was to explore the possibility of carrying out a civilian crisis management operation in the area, provided that both the Indonesian government and GAM can reach an agreement.
So far there have been talks within the EU of an operation that would involve between 100 to 200 people, both civilians and military personnel.
The negotiating sides have previously disagreed on the number of participating observers, commented Ahtisaari's Crisis Management Initiative spokesperson Maria-Elena Cowell on Monday.
The EU delegation consisted of four persons, the names of whom CMI did not make public. Two of the observers were from the European Commission and two from the Council of the European Union.
An EU official who took part in Monday's negotiations was unwilling to brief Helsingin Sanomat of the content of the talks.
