Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 53: To ask the Minister for Defence if he will provide details of the EU peace mission to Indonesia to which a group of Irish Army officers have recently been sent; the length of time these soldiers will be stationed in Indonesia; the type of activities they will be involved in; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25942/05]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The Aceh monitoring mission, AMM, in Indonesia was launched by the European Union on 15 September 2005. The aim of the mission is to monitor the implementation of the peace agreement concluded by the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement, GAM, on 15 August 2005.

The mission is a civilian mission within the framework of the European Security and Defence Policy, ESDP. The mission comprises a total of just over 200 unarmed civilian and military personnel. The European Union's political and security committee, PSC, will exercise the political control and the strategic guidance of the AMM under the responsibility of the EU Council.

The key tasks of the mission are: to monitor respect for the end of hostilities between the parties; to monitor the demobilisation of GAM fighters and to decommission their armaments; to monitor the relocation of non-organic Indonesian military forces and non-organic police troops; to monitor the re-integration of active GAM members into civil society; to monitor the human rights situation in the context of the disarmament and demobilisation of active GAM members; to fulfil certain responsibilities in ruling on disputed amnesty cases in line with agreed dispute settlement procedures agreed in the MoU; and to investigate and fulfil responsibility in ruling on complaints and alleged violations of the MoU in line with agreed dispute settlement procedures.

On 7 September 2005, the Government authorised the despatch of members of the Permanent Defence Force for service with the Aceh monitoring mission. On 8 September 2005, three officers of the Defence Forces were deployed to Banda Aceh in support of the mission. Following a short period of training in Medan in Indonesia, the officers deployed to the Aceh province on 15 September 2005. Two of these officers, who will be deployed for just over three months, are specialist ordnance personnel and are directly involved in the weapons decommissioning process. The third officer, who will be deployed initially for six months, with a possible extension for a further six months, is employed in the mission headquarters.

To date reports from the European Union indicate that the decommissioning process is progressing well.