Thousands of Indonesian troops have begun withdrawing from Aceh province in the last phase of a peace plan agreed with the rebels.

Marcus Tanner, Banda Aceh – There can't be many guerrilla leaders with escape stories like Yusuf Irwandi's.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Nani Afrida, Jakarta – The government is expected to extend the presence of international peace monitors in Aceh, previously scheduled to finish their job in

Banda Aceh – Indonesia withdrew 1,600 troops from Aceh province as part of a pact aimed at ending a separatist conflict in the province devastated by last year's tsunami.

Banda Aceh – Former rebels in Indonesia's Aceh today surrendered enough weapons in a final disarmament process to meet the total required under a historic peace pact with the Government

A. Junaidi – Acehnese writer Riati M.K.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The head of the Aceh and Nias Reconstruction Agency (BRR) praised on Friday the role of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the work being done to rebuild

Banda Aceh – The commander of the Iskandar Muda Territorial Command, Major General Supiadin AS, says that there are no grounds to extend the presence of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Thursday that the current peace-building process in Aceh was on the right track, giving optimism for a lasting peac

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Despite a slow start, progress has been made in tsunami-ravaged Aceh, with the pace of reconstruction picking up.

Jakarta – It is expected that the provisions on resolving human rights violations in Aceh will again attract sharp debate in dissuasions on the Draft Law on the Organisation of a Govern

Jakarta – The head of reconstruction in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province defended the pace of home rebuilding for survivors on Thursday, saying it was exceeding the country'

Andrew Steele, Jakarta – The wagons are already circling.

Jakarta – The efforts to create lasting peace in tsunami-devastated Aceh have been more successful than expected thus far, but the process has now entered a critical stage, a report say

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The demands for Aceh's partition should not be a priority for immediate discussion so as to avoid shifting the focus of attention from the reconstruction work i

Tiarma Siboro and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – If responded to by the government, the demands for Aceh's partition into three provinces could undermine the peace accord it signed

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The government and lawmakers are listening to demands for the partition of Aceh into three provinces, even though it may infringe on the peace agreeme

Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – Saturday nights in Banda Aceh for years meant ducking off the streets to avoid curfews, enforced by soldiers and paramilitary police in armoured personnel carrie

Banda Aceh – The Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Board (BRR) of Aceh and Nias has received 206 complaints from the public, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the government up

Shoeb Kagda, Jakarta – Nearly one year after 15-metre-high waves smashed into the Aceh coast, the Indonesian province worst hit by the Dec 26 tsunami is slowly but surely regaining its

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) marked its 29th anniversary quietly on Sunday by holding prayers at mosques across Aceh province.

Tim Hume – Teenage tsunami survivors in Indonesia's stricken Aceh province are turning to marijuana to escape the trauma and despair.

Banda Aceh – Sympathizers of former rebels in Aceh commemorate the movement's anniversary across the tsunami-ravaged province in a modest way on Sunday, following the rebels' decision t

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Large crowds gathered on Friday in Banda Aceh and Pidie to watch tsunami survivors publicly caned for gambling.

Nani Afrida and Tiarma Siboro, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – Former Aceh rebels have decided against celebrating the 29nd anniversary of their movement on Sunday to show their commitment to prom

John Aglionby, Nusa – The community noticeboard in Nusa is conspicuously underemployed.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Despite the Aug.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The former Aceh rebels will be free to celebrate the anniversary of their movement on Sunday as long as it does not rekindle separatism, the governmen

Medan/Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has warned former Aceh combatants against celebrating the anniversary of their organization, saying it would not be in accordance with the

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – An international aid agency helping tsunami victims in Aceh has temporarily shut down operations after a group of youths ransacked its Medan office on Wednesday

Ilyas, Langsa – Because the normative and other rights employees have not been accommodated by the leadership board of the Langsa City branch of the All Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI),

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Antigraft activists have criticized members of the Aceh and Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) as "overpaid and underachieving".

Imran MA, Eastern Aceh – On Monday November 21, Muhammad Nurdin (43), a resident of the Buket Paka village who has been a member of the Rantau Peureulak sub-district Red White Militia (

Jakarta – Former rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province successfully ended the third round of a weapons handover on Tuesday after struggling to surrender enough arms that met the criteria

Lhokseumawe – Indonesia pulled out more than 2,000 troops from Aceh province Saturday after the rebels handed over weapons as part of a peace deal to end 29 years of fighting, the provi

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Aceh provincial legislative council has completed drafting a new bill on the governing of Aceh, which would allow former rebels to set up local politic

Jakarta – Indonesian Military chief Gen.

Alisa P, Banda Aceh – The composition of the draft law on the organisation of a government for Aceh as mandated by the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Indonesian governmen

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Khairil Anwar acknowledged he felt depressed.

Sian Powell, Mon Ikeun – It is damp, crowded and hot – a tatty canvas tent surrounded by mud and puddles and home to four adult Acehnese sisters and two children.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Many still living in tents, the Acehnese celebrated their first Idul Fitri almost a year after the tsunami devastated Aceh and parts of North Sumatra.

Bill Tarrant, Lampuuk – In a little shack they built on a rubble-strewn field where the tsunami travelled the farthest inland, a group of teenaged boys orphaned in the disaster have mad

John Aglionby, Nusa – The community notice board in Nusa is conspicuously underemployed.

[The following Aceh backgrounder was prepared by the Australian solidarity organisation Asia Pacific Solidarity Network (APSN) to provide an background to the three-decade conflict i

Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Military (TNI) hailed on Tuesday the return of a top leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Bakhtiar Abdullah, to his homeland.

Peter Fritsch, Banda Aceh – The tsunami story of fisherman Zamzami is sadly familiar: A black wave taller than the coastal coconut trees swallowed his home, his wife and five of his six

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – In another positive sign for the peace process in Aceh, a top leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) arrived in his homeland on Monday after 25 years in exile

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR) has lashed out at the Ministry of Finance for lacking a sense of crisis in delaying withou

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Ten months after the devastating tsunami that claimed more than 210,000 human lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of others last December, the public

For the first time in 25 years, an exiled leader of Aceh's separatist rebel movement has returned to the Indonesian province in a sentimental homecoming.