Nasir Gabra, Lhokseumawe – A demonstration launched by hundreds of Malikussaleh Lhokseumawe University (Unimal) students almost ended in a clash with police when they pushed and shoved each other as students tried to break through the gates of the North Aceh Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) on Thursday February 2.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesia, which suffered the most from the Indian Ocean tsunami, dismissed on Thursday a report that accused several governments of failing to meet human rights standards in relief efforts.

Nur Raihan, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Aceh has asked the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to follow up the finding of graves of victims of the conflict in Aceh. Twenty-two graves have been recorded containing 37 skeletons that have been found since the Helsinki agreement was signed in August.

Adi W and Radzie, Banda Aceh – Hundreds of students from the Acehnese Alliance of Private Collage Student Executive Councils (Aliansi BEM PTS Aceh) held a demonstration on Wednesday February 1 protesting the central government's removal of a number of crucial articles in the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh (RUU-PA).

Nur Raihan, Banda Aceh – The Acehnese Alliance of Private College Student Executive Councils (BEM PTS) believes that the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh that was submitted to the to the House of Representatives by the Home Affairs Department has disappointed the Acehnese people.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Activists demanded Monday that North Sumatra authorities put a stop to illegal fees imposed during transportation of imported timber from Medan to Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The final draft of the government's bill on Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam opens the possibility for the redrawing of its borders, which would violate the peace agreement signed by Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Tsunami-hit Aceh will soon face an environmental disaster if the government keeps on issuing logging concessions in the province's forests, an environmental group says.

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta - The government has finally completed compiling the Draft Law on a Government for Aceh and is ready to submit it to the House of Representatives (DPR). President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will today - Wednesday January 25 - study the final draft to prepare a Presidential Instruction (Ampres).

The government's completed Aceh administration bill will allow the Acehnese to set up local political parties, as mandated in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the government and the now-defunct Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Helsinki – As snow floated down from the dark skies over Finland's capital Helsinki, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and exiled leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) held a historic meeting aimed at building a long-lasting peace in Aceh.

Helsinki – Peace broker Martti Ahtisaari on Saturday praised former enemies Indonesia and the Aceh rebels for honoring a treaty that ended almost 30 years of bloodshed in the former separatist province.

Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president who mediated the negotiations resulting in a peace pact signed in Helsinki in August, declared the process a success.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The Acehnese will not be getting local political parties in the near future, home affairs minister M. Ma'ruf announced Wednesday. He said Jakarta had temporarily ruled out the creation of local political parties, pending consultation with the House of Representatives.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – The Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) admits it has turned a blind eye to hundreds of houses being rebuilt in prohibited, highly polluted areas that were devastated by last year's tsunami in Aceh.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Establishment of local political parties and the partition of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam into three provinces are expected to be main issues of contention when legislators begin deliberations on the bill on Aceh later this month.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Extending the term for the international Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) would be a good way to help Indonesian authorities and former separatists establish a long-lasting commitment to peace, legislators and a senior Acehnese politician said.

But the government still needs to explain the reasons behind the extension to the House of Representatives.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – A number of international relief organizations have been forced to import timber to build houses for tsunami survivors whose homes were destroyed in the catastrophe.

The decision to import timber was taken due to the scarcity of logs from sustainable forests in the country.

Hera Diani and Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – With containers of tsunami aid gathering dust at ports in Jakarta and Belawan, North Sumatra, the government is relying on oft-heard excuses to explain the delay in clearance.

Tedi Hikmah, Jakarta – The non-government organisation Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) has again raised questions about the investigation of gross human rights violations that have taken place in Aceh.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – After living in a tent in a tsunami refugee camp for months, Cut Samsidar left Aceh Besar regency for Medan two months ago to work as housemaid.

She said she could no longer stand the conditions in the camp as aid was no longer forthcoming. She still is at a loss to know why the assistance has been cut off.

The Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) said the tenure of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) in Aceh should end as originally scheduled because otherwise a bad precedent would be set, a spokesman said.

Lhokseumawe – Indonesia withdrew the last of its police from Aceh province Thursday under a peace agreement with separatist rebels that was propelled by the tsunami one year ago.

The withdrawal – delayed several times in the past week due to a shortage of ships – was the last military step required under the deal to end a 29-year war that claimed 15,000 lives.

Aguswandi, Banda Aceh – The one-year commemoration of the tsunami could be the last time the world focuses on Aceh. Despite promises that the world will not forget Aceh, it is very likely that the commemoration marked the beginning of the end of global attention to Aceh. After all, second anniversaries are rarely heard of.

Radzie, Banda Aceh – The earthquake and tsunami at the end of 2004 and the signing of the peace agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in August 2005 has resulted in a drastic decline in the number of human rights violations in Aceh.

Radzie, Banda Aceh – The earthquake and tsunami at the end of 2004 and the signing of the peace agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in August 2005 has resulted in a drastic decline in the number of human rights violations in Aceh.

Jakarta – The spokesman of ther Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Aceh Irwandi Yusuf confirmed that GAM high-ranking officials, Hasan Tiro and Malik Mahmud, would not visit Aceh in the near future.

Before the tsunami, Banda Aceh was a ghost town at night except for patrols of feared paramilitary police. In the mornings, corpses scarred by torture would turn up in the paddy fields down the coast where the brutal guerilla war between GAM (Free Aceh Movement) insurgents and security forces was fought in the jungle.

Jakarta – An EU-led team monitoring a peace deal in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province will extend its mission by at least three more months to oversee crucial elections, Indonesia's vice president said Friday.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – Indonesia is today scheduled to complete the withdrawal of its 21,000 non-local soldiers from Aceh as part of a peace agreement to end a 29-year separatist insurgency in the tsunami-ravaged province.

A'an Suryana and Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) announced the dissolution of its military wing here on Tuesday in another move to achieve long-lasting peace in the tsunami-ravaged province.

A'an Suryana and Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Ignoring mounting criticism, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has approved a plan for the Indonesian Military to deploy troops to help speed up post-tsunami recovery programs in Aceh.

Nani Afrida, special to The Seattle Times – It has been one year since the tsunami devastated Aceh. What Aceh looked and felt like when the tsunami struck, and the panic of the people around me are still fresh in my mind.

Banda Aceh – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono denied earlier reports saying he planned to send more than 15,000 troops to Aceh, saying the soldiers would number less than 1,000 and would be used for reconstruction efforts, not combat.

Banda Aceh – General Endriartono Sutarto, Commander of the Indonesian Military (TNI), has said that the TNI operational command based in Lhokseumawe would be closed down following the withdrawal of non-organic TNI troops in Aceh.

A'an Suryana and Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Tearful mourners gathered here on Monday to offer prayers and lay flowers on the first anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami, one of the world's deadliest natural disasters.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia's Aceh rebels formally disbanded their armed wing on Tuesday in a major step toward ending one of Asia's longest separatist conflicts.

Peace efforts gained momentum after Aceh province was devastated by the massive earthquake and tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004, killing more than 131,000 people in the province and leaving half a million others homeless.

A'an Suryana, Banda Aceh – Despite mounting criticism, the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) is pressing ahead with its plan to request the Indonesian Military (TNI) to deploy troops to help the body rebuild Aceh.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – People in Aceh and Nias have expressed little satisfaction in the progress of reconstruction and rehabilitation work in tsunami-hit areas, despite the government's claim that the pace of rebuilding is picking up, according to a survey.

Banda Aceh – Some parents in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province are still clinging to hopes for a miracle, placing photos of smiling children in newspapers on the chance they might still be alive.

Sian Powell, Banda Aceh – Tensions between fundamentalist Muslims and Western aid workers have begun to erupt in Aceh as the tsunami-devastated Indonesian province slowly recovers.

A'an Suryana, Banda Aceh – A year after the tsunami, signs of recovery are evident among Acehnese children, but many challenges remain, a UN body has said.

A'an Suryana and Tiarma Siboro, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – The government has drawn strong criticism for its plan to deploy 15 battalions, or about 15,000 soldiers, to help speed up reconstruction in Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Bustari Mansyur shrugs wearily when asked how many bodies his workers retrieved from the mangled wreckage of last December's tsunami. The question seems irrelevant.

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Indonesia's military has announced plans to deploy more than 10,000 troops in Aceh to speed tsunami reconstruction, a move that threatens the province's brittle peace.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) is preparing to deploy 15 battalions of troops to speed up reconstruction efforts in tsunami-hit Aceh.

A'an Suryana, Banda Aceh – One year after the Indian Ocean tsunami, children in Indonesia are recovering at a slower pace compared to children in other countries affected by the destructive waves, a survey has found.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) urged the government on Wednesday to immediately cancel forest concession rights that have been given to logging companies operating in Southeast Aceh and Aceh Singkli, saying that it would only worsen the deforestation problem in the tsunami-devastated province.

Banda Aceh – Former Aceh rebels watched on Wednesday as international peace monitors fed a final batch of their weapons into a circular saw, a symbolic end to the nearly three-decade of civil war in the province.

Jakarta – The decommissioning and dispersal of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) military wing is inadequate for the Indonesian Military (TNI). TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto has requested GAM to make an official statement regarding its dissolution.

A'an Suryana, Banda Aceh – "I'm tired. I have been writing a lot about reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in Aceh but the progress here has been slow. Many people are still living in tents and barracks, despite the sheer amount of funds injected by the world," an Acehnese journalist has complained.