The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) was established by the European Union after the "Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and the Free Ache Movement" was signed on 15 August 2005 in Helsinki, Finland. The AMM is one of many missions under the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy.
The Aceh Monitoring Mission, led by Mr Pieter Feith from the EU, was established to monitor the implementation of various aspects of the peace agreement set out in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in August 2005. The European Union, together with five contributing countries from ASEAN (Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines and Singapore), Norway and Switzerland, provided monitors for the peace process in Aceh (Indonesia).
Following a brief interim presence (IMP) after the signing of the MoU, the AMM was officially launched on 15 September 2005 covering an initial period of 6 months. It was later extended until December 2006 and continued work until 2012. The presence of AMM was based on an official invitation from the GoI and with the full support of the leadership of the GAM.
The AMM undertook the mission to contribute to a peaceful, comprehensive and sustainable solution to the conflict in Aceh. This had been made all the more important by the tsunami disaster of 26 December 2004. In undertaking the mission, the EU and ASEAN fully respected the territorial integrity of Indonesia and saw the future of Aceh as being within the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia. AMM was impartial by nature and did not represent or favour any of the parties. The Head of Mission reported to the Council of the European Union through the Political and Security Committee and to Javier Solana, Secretary General/High Representative of the Council of the EU on matters related to the AMM. He reported to the parties, the CMI, and the contributing countries on possible violations of the MoU.
The objective of the AMM was to assist the GoI and the GAM in the implementation of the MoU. The AMM did not take on a negotiation role. It was agreed that should this be needed during the implementation process, it would be the responsibility of the two parties and the original facilitator (i.e. the chairman of the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI)). For the final period of its mandate from 15 September 2006 to 15 December 2006, the following tasks were undertaken: