Jakarta's declaration of the end of emergency rule for Acheh seems a cruel joke to most Achehnese here in Acheh.

Some weeks ago, the Indonesian government promised Achehnese that the TNI would cease offensive military operations. But since that promise they've only escalated their war.

Agus Supriyanto, Jakarta – Non-government organisations from the Aceh Working Group (AWG) have welcomed the reduction of the state of civil emergency in Aceh to one of a civil authority that will begin on May 18.

Jakarta – The reduction of Aceh's status from a state of civil emergency to one of a civil authority must be seized as an opportunity to further increase the involvement of civil society.

Reuters in Meunasah Mesjid – Nestled between steep, forested hills and a white sandy beach, Meunasah Mesjid is one of Aceh's new bachelor villages after the December 26 tsunami, which killed a disproportionate number of women and children.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Getting massive amounts of aid money into the right hands in tsunami-hit Aceh and keeping it out of the wrong pockets is one of the biggest challenges facing the rebuilding team.

'All the donor groups, whether bilateral, multilateral or private sector, want to feel safe about their money,' said reconstruction agency head Kuntoro Mangkusubroto.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Thirty-four-year-old Maisarah Muharram M. Noer can still remember when she was brought to a psychiatrist several weeks after the tsunami, screaming her lungs out with an intravenous drip in her arm. "Everything was instantaneous. I thought I had gone insane," she told The Jakarta Post.

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Critics questioned on Friday the government's failure to order the withdrawal of military troops from Aceh despite lifting the state of civil emergency, a decision they deemed a compromise.

Medan – Punishment in the form of public floggings (hukum cambuk) for Muslims who violate Islamic law in Aceh will soon be implemented.

Sebastien Blanc, Jakarta – The United Nations started distributing rice seeds and farm tools Friday in Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh province, hoping to restart agriculture amid the salty sludge that now covers 37,500 hectares.

Bill Tarrant, Lampuuk – Juwaria hammers away at cement rubble, extracting iron rods she will sell to buy food, oblivious that her tsunami-flattened village is benefiting from an aid windfall.

Sunariah, Jakarta – TNI (armed forces) chief General Endriartono Sutarto has revealed that post-tsunami there has been an increase in the number of Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members. It is suspected that GAM prisoners who escaped have rejoined GAM's forces.

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – Don't think that all of GAM's (Free Aceh Movement) members fell victims to the tsunami. Recent armed contacts between GAM and the TNI (armed forces) in Aceh is evidence that GAM is actually even stronger.

Bill Tarrant, Lamkruet – The tents are like ovens in the scorching sun and leak in the rain. The children have no toys and their fathers have no jobs. The food's grim and the ground turns into cesspools in a downpour.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Post-tsunami rebuilding has been stalled by a delay in releasing Government money.

The Indonesian Government has done nothing to start reconstruction in the tsunami-devastated province of Aceh, the official in charge of rebuilding says.

Banda Aceh – Up to a quarter of the children caught up in the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia's Aceh have mental health problems that need professional treatment, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.

Most of the tsunami-affected adult population is also suffering from trauma-related distress, a WHO-funded study by the University of Indonesia found.

The Indonesian official co-ordinating the recovery of tsunami-hit Aceh has said reconstruction there has hardly begun, five months after the disaster.

Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said he was shocked at how little had been done for almost 600,000 survivors who lost their homes on 26 December 2004.

Sik – Umno Youth said it has been accused of helping the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) when its members were in Sumatra to help victims of last year's tsunami.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Aside from conducting humanitarian work in tsunami-stricken Aceh, a number of overseas non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the province are abusing their original mission, says the head of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN).

The head of Indonesia's intelligence agency says some foreign aid groups in tsunami-hit Aceh province are "harming the security situation" with their activities.

Intelligence agency chief Syamsir Siregar told The Jakarta Post that the agency was monitoring a number of foreign non-governmental organisations because of their "irregular" activities in Aceh.

[Upon the invitation of the International Migrants (IOM), The Jakarta Post's Chisato Hara days observing developments in the tsunami-devastated province, including the hand over of shelters to displaced people in Tingkeum, Banda Aceh.]

Tasya is six months old, perhaps a little underdeveloped for her age, but bright-eyed and quick to smile – even at strangers.

Jakarta – Foreign NGOs that wish to continue their post-tsunami aid work in the Indonesian province of Aceh must not "interfere in the internal affairs of the country" by favouring the local pro-independence guerrilla.

Ellen Nakashima, Lamteungoh – With a flick of her henna-painted hand, the teenage bride adjusted her gold batik head scarf, opened her mouth and accepted a spoonful of cooked white rice from her beaming husband. Then, as tradition dictates, she returned the smile and fed a spoonful of wedding rice to him.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Activists have warned that the government blueprint for the reconstruction of tsunami-stricken Aceh and North Sumatra, may be inaccurate and prone to embezzlement.

The blueprint was finalized early this month, with the total cost arrived at for reconstruction projects over the next five years around Rp 46 trillion (about US$4.6 billion).

Jakarta – "Do you believe that the Rp 41 trillion in funds apportioned to finance the rehabilitation and reconstruction of disaster-devastated Aceh and Nias in North Sumatra, will not be embezzled?," an activist with Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) asked when addressing a seminar here on Wednesday.

Banda Aceh – Attacks by separatist rebels in the tsunami-hit Indonesian province of Aceh have intensified in recent weeks despite a renewed peace dialogue, military officials said Thursday.

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare Alwi Shihab says that one of the clauses which is currently being prepared for foreign non-government organisations (NGOs) working in Aceh is that they not interfere in Indonesia's domestic affairs. They are also prohibited from working in the interests of separatists and particular ideologies.

Jakarta – Foreign peacekeepers won't be part of any international monitoring of Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province after a possible peace deal between the government and rebels, Jakarta said on Wednesday.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Some 1,441 containers filled with relief aid for tsunami victims in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam are still being detained by the customs authorities at Belawan port in Medan due to incomplete documentation, an official said on Monday.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said on Thursday the military was ready to pull out some 40,000 troops from Aceh if an agreement was reached by the government and rebels.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – After holding two meetings in Helsinki, Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have yet to sign an agreement. For as long as there is no agreement in black and white the TNI (armed forces) will reject a cease-fire with GAM.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Helsinki – The third round of the Helsinki negotiations between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to find "a comprehensive and permanent solution with dignity for all" was just concluded with new hope for a peaceful breakthrough.

Jane Perlez, Jakarta – After a long delay, Indonesia announced a new body to oversee the reconstruction of Aceh, but it will start work without the help of a UN agency that had planned to spend $60 million on more than 35,000 houses.

Suadi Sulaiman Laweueng, the Free Aceh Movement's (GAM) spokesperson for the Pidie regency in north Aceh, spoke to Green Left Weekly's Jes Abek about the struggle in Aceh. The interview was translated by James Balowski.

Can you explain the situation there?

Less than four months after the big wave hit, villagers in Nusa have cleared tonnes of debris and will soon start rebuilding homes and cultivating land.

But in the third visit to the Indonesian village, whose reconstruction the Guardian is monitoring this year, John Aglionby also finds creeping tensions.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The "positive and constructive" results achieved during the third round of peace talks between the government of Indonesia and leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will be worthless if violence prevails in the province, a senior GAM official has said.

Helsinki – Aceh rebels and Indonesian government delegates have made a "breakthrough" at peace talks on the tsunami-ravaged province, and will continue negotiations in Finland May 26-31, the Finnish mediator said Saturday.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono insisted Friday Jakarta would never allow Aceh province to separate from the rest of Indonesia, but said a government plan to give the region a greater say in running its affairs must be implemented.

Aceh rebels fighting for the independence of Indonesia's northernmost province have told the Indonesian government in peace talks that they see Bougainville in Papua New Guinea as a model for self-government, a rebel spokesman said Friday.

Optimism prevailed as Jakarta and Aceh separatists sat down for a third day of peace talks in Helsinki, but on the ground war-weary Acehnese expressed less confidence in the negotiations as the Indonesian military sent in more troops to hunt down rebels.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government will not accept the option of a cease-fire offered by GAM [Free Aceh Movement]. The coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Widodo AS, has said that the Indonesian government's mission is fixed, namely the acceptance of special autonomy for Aceh and the complete and permanent termination of conflict.

Soraya Permatasari, Jakarta – Malnutrition was found in almost 12 percent of children in Indonesia's Aceh region who were displaced by the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, according to a survey by the government and aid agencies.

Soraya Permatasari, Jakarta – Three Indonesian soldiers were injured in a clash with Aceh rebels, as peace talks aimed at ending three decades of conflict continued near Helsinki.

Indonesia is to reinforce its military presence in the tsunami-ravaged province of Aceh, even as peace talks with separatist rebels in the province make progress, an army spokesman said.

Aceh separatists and Indonesian officials said they had reached a "point of understanding" following a second day of peace talks aimed at ending a conflict that has killed more than 12,000 people.

Aceh separatists urged Indonesian officials to call a ceasefire as a gesture of goodwill as the two parties held a third round of peace talks n Helsinki aimed at ending a conflict that has killed more than 12,000 people.

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Splits have emerged among Aceh separatists on the eve of peace talks with the Indonesian Government in Helsinki, with one faction damning the Finnish negotiators and flatly rejecting special autonomy and another expressing cautious optimism.

Jakarta – The Dec. 26 tsunami that swept Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam not only devastated infrastructure but also caused extensive damage to agricultural land, with some areas needing up to five years before returning to full production.

Jakarta – Separatists from Aceh province have dismissed a government offer of self-government for the tsunami-hit region ahead of a new round of peace talks in Finland this week.

Separatist rebels in Aceh province accused Indonesia's military of stepping up their campaign in the tsunami-shattered region, a charge that underlines the obstacles to peace ahead of a crucial third-round of talks in Finland later this week.

Nick Gentle, Banda Aceh – In the streets surrounding Banda Aceh's grand mosque, the city's commercial heart is starting to beat again. The stunning white building stands about 2.5km inland, yet its minarets and domes bear the scars of the tsunami.