Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – While President Abdurrahman Wahid gave his backing for another ceasefire between Acehnese rebels and the government, analysts said the bloodshed over the past few days indicated that neither side was prepared to take the truce seriously.

Pip Hinman – Acehnese activist Kautsar has been struggling for his people's right to self-determination for some years. In 1998, he helped to form Student Solidarity with the People (SMUR), the main Acehenese student-led popular movement for independence.

Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – "Let our people go quickly or Indonesia will suffer the same fate as Yugoslavia." That was the dire warning from separatist rebels, as the Indonesian province of Aceh began a new truce yesterday.

Reuters in Jakarta – Three people have been killed and four wounded in a fresh bout of violence in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, showing the futility of a recently agreed ceasefire extension.

Police say a total of eight people have been killed since the truce was announced on Wednesday while rebel leaders put the figure as high as 30.

Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – The controversial trial of Aceh's top civilian independence activist is expected to start in the course of a new one-month truce with separatist rebels, his colleagues say.

Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – Behind Banda Aceh's landmark Baiturrahman mosque, a street vendor was scratching a living as he does every day, mashing up sugar cane for drinks.

"Is there a new agreement? We don't know about politics," he said when told of a one-month "moratorium on violence" signed on Wednesday by Acehnese rebels and the Indonesian Government in Switzerland.

Banda Aceh – At least six people, including a soldier on guard at an Exxon-Mobil oil company complex were killed, and eight others injured in renewed violence in Indonesia's Aceh province, police and hospitals said Friday.

Banda Aceh – Student groups in Indonesia's Aceh province Tuesday called for a full ceasefire between the government and separatist rebels as violence in the region claimed another life.

They said a truce between Jakarta and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that took effect in June and is due to expire on January 15 has failed to reduce violence in the province.

Jakarta – Make or break talks on Aceh will commence in Davos, Switzerland, on Saturday with Indonesian government negotiators likely to make one final offer to Free Aceh Movement (GAM) representatives for special autonomy in the province.

Banda Aceh – Separatist violence flared in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, leaving 11 people dead, police and witnesses said Saturday. Friday's deaths – nine civilians, one police officer and a separatist rebel – bring to 24 the number killed this year.

Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province said Wednesday they had warned Mobil Oil Indonesia, a subsidiary of US-based Exxon Mobil, to leave the region for its own safety.

Sidney Jones – Many knew Jafar as a political science student at New School University, New York. Others knew him as a leader of the very close Acehnese community in Woodside, Queens, where he'd lived since 1996. Some New Yorkers may have known him as one of the least aggressive taxi drivers this city has ever produced.

Banda Aceh – At least 17 people have been killed during the Muslim Eid Al-Fitr holiday in Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh, police and human rights workers said Sunday.

The continuing violence bodes ill for upcoming peace talks between the government and leaders of the separatist Free Aceh Movement. They are tentatively scheduled to take place January 5 in Geneva.

Lely T. Djuhari, Banda Aceh – Tired of daily jeers and insults, Natalia Dewi has done what she never thought she would – she has started wearing a headscarf. Although Roman Catholic, the college student is among hundreds of thousands of women covering up in accordance with Islamic law in rebellious Aceh province.

Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta – Sitting in a corner of a crowded South Jakarta cafi in jeans and a T-shirt, Nazaruddin Abdul Ghani is surprisingly calm for a 22-year-old who's fleeing for his life.

Tomi Soetjipto, Banda Aceh – Fear and despair have returned to haunt Indonesia's rebellious province of Aceh.

With a military crackdown looming, the chilling prospect is more bloodshed, a hardening of hatred towards Jakarta and growing calls for independence that will severly undermine President Abdurrahman Wahid's efforts to bring peace to his giant country.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – Detained independence activist Muhammad Nazar has a simple message for Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid: turn up the heat on Aceh and you may stir up a war you cannot win.

Devi Asmarani, Banda Aceh – Were there a rating system for a presidential mission to a conflict-torn area, President Abdurrahman Wahid's visit to Aceh on Tuesday would probably have got a borderline pass. It was not a complete failure, but was far from a great success.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid's comments in Aceh belie how wide the gulf is between him and much of his Government and how little room he has to manoeuvre.

Tomi Soetjipto, Banda Aceh – Wearing a bullet-proof vest, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid visited the bloodied province of Aceh on Tuesday and urged separatists to join in developing the country.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid visited the troubled province of Aceh on Tuesday and pledged to continue talks with separatist rebels after a truce expires next month.

John Martinkus, Banda Aceh – Handing out gruesome photographs of Acehnese shot point-blank in the head in recent violence, Free Aceh Movement (GAM) representative Zulfani saw nothing positive in the visit today of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid to Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Armed men on Saturday attacked army troops securing the capital of Indonesia's troubled Aceh province ahead of next week's presidential visit, police said. A skirmish broke out between a team of military and police and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Jakarta – The Army Chief General Endriartono Sutarto yesterday said police have not been able to fight a separatist movement in Aceh. Speaking in the Central Java capital of Semarang, he said an immediate military operation could be the only way to end the bloodshed in the troubled province.

Jakarta – More than 2,000 troops have been deployed to the troubled Aceh province amid rising violence and assassination threats against President Abdurrahman Wahid, who is to visit there next week.

Banda Aceh – The situation in Aceh during the year of 2000 has not significantly improved, said Coordinator Deputy of Aceh Commission for Missing Persons & Victims of Violence (Kontras), Fouad Ismail. The government still commits violence, which adds the long list of human rights violation in Aceh.

Agencies in Jakarta – A human rights worker has given a chilling account of narrowly escaping a group execution in Aceh province in which four people were shot dead.

Banda Aceh – Eight policemen and soldiers were injured in separatist rebel attacks on security posts and a natural gas facility in Indonesia's Aceh province, police and residents said Tuesday.

Jakarta – Two men were wounded in an attack Saturday evening on the residence of Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh located on Jl. SA Mahmudsyah in Banda Aceh. The two victims are Hilal Hasballah, head of the West Aceh Public Works Office, and his driver, Ismail, Antara reported Sunday.

Reuters in Jakarta – Three Indonesian humanitarian volunteers attached to a Danish-sponsored rights group have been tortured and shot dead in Aceh, underscoring the growing threat to aid workers and civilians in the rebellious province.

Jacqueline Koch, Banda Aceh – Demur and modestly veiled in scarves, young women circulate through Aceh's coffee shops, food stalls and open markets.

Youth and gender shield them from suspicion as they listen to snatches of conversation and note who meets whom. Most are in their early 20s and not yet married, but they are known as the inong bale, or widows.

Aceh – Separatist rebels have stepped up attacks on military and police installations in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, leaving three people dead.

Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement's (GAM) Peurlak war commander, Sahrul bin Idris, 35, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on Thursday by the Medan District Court.

Presiding Judge NK Simatupang said Sahrul was convicted of illegally possessing an AK-47 weapon with 150 bullets, thus violating article 1 of Law No. 12/1950 on Civil Emergency.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian security forces have killed three humanitarian workers and a torture victim they were escorting in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, a rights activist said Thursday.

Banda Aceh – At least 15 people have been killed and five others injured in separate violent incidents here following the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)'s 24th anniversary on Monday, the security forces and residents said on Tuesday.

Agencies in Banda Aceh and Jakarta – In a bid to ease separatist tensions in the predominantly Muslim province of Aceh, Jakarta said yesterday it would offer Islamic law. The offer came as police forcibly pulled down hundreds of independence flags.

Banda Aceh – Free Aceh Movement (GAM) commander Abdulah Syafi'iled a military ceremony to commemorate the movement's 24th anniversary in Batee Iliek in the regency of Bireuen, Aceh, and pledged to continue the struggle for freedom.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The Indonesian Government has tried to buy hearts and minds in the troubled province of Aceh ahead of the separatists' declaration of independence anniversary today, but few believe the promises anymore.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – In an apparent move to win the hearts of secessionists in Aceh, Jakarta announced yesterday it was stepping up efforts to speed up preparation of a special autonomy package, and would disburse humanitarian and financial aid worth 100 billion rupiah to the province.

Jakarta – The government confirmed on Friday it would not extend the humanitarian pause in restive Aceh province but would turn to stiff measures if the separatist rebel group failed to show commitment to peace.

Banda Aceh – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is seeking to delay further talks with the government of Indonesia scheduled to be held in Geneva, Switzerland on December 5 and December 6.

Spokesman for GAM at the Geneva talks, Sofyan Ibrahim Diba, told reporters here on Thursday that when GAM agreed to the dates, no one remembered that December 4 was the anniversary of GAM.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian police opened fire and killed five people in the restive province of Aceh, just four days prior to the 25th anniversary of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), residents said Friday.

James Balowski – For the first time since the overthrow of former President Suharto, the Indonesian government has arrested and charged a human rights activist under the notorious "sowing hatred" articles of the Indonesian Criminal Code. The maximum sentence is six year's jail.

Tim Dodd – Like the two frayed ends of a rope, the provinces at either end of the 5,000km-long Indonesian archipelago are the weak points which look ready to unravel the country.

They are like two opposite poles which are pulling at Indonesia's fragile unity – Aceh, the Muslim province at the extreme west and Irian Jaya, the mainly Christian province in the extreme east.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Parliament maintained a "soft" approach to the separatist movements in Aceh yesterday by rejecting civil-emergency status and promising better law enforcement for the troubled province. But it underlined that Jakarta would not tolerate further questioning of its sovereignty.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – Putting an end to months of policy drift, the Indonesian government is set to issue today an ultimatum to the Free Aceh separatist movement GAM: Start negotiations in the next seven weeks or we will wipe you out when the current "humanitarian pause" expires.

Vaudine England – Police arrested Aceh's leading student activist and yesterday threatened imposition of emergency rule if progress was not made towards dialogue.

The activist, Muhammad Nazar, heads the Information Centre for a Referendum in Aceh (Sira), which is lobbying for Acehnese to be allowed to choose independence or continued rule by Jakarta.

Jakarta – At least 150 Acehnese youths living in Jakarta staged a protest outside National Police headquarters yesterday, demanding the release of Muhammad Nazar, head of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA).

Jakarta – Renewed clashes between government troops and separatist rebels have left at least five people dead in Indonesia's Aceh province, police and rights workers said Friday.

Supt. Herarus Sumarman, the local police chief, said three people died when guerrillas attacked a police patrol on Wednesday in the west of the province, 1,750 kilometers northwest of Jakarta.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – Support for independence in troubled Aceh has reached fever pitch and separatists say the campaign's momentum now is almost unstoppable. Indonesia largely has its own security forces to blame, they say.