Ridwan Max Sijabat and Nani Afrida, Pematang Siantar – An alliance of non-governmental organizations has asked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to replace senior officials at the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR).

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel Irwandi Yusuf and running-mate Muhammad Nazar won a landslide victory in the first direct election for governor in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, the province's Independent Elections Committee announced Friday.

Christine T. Tjandraningsih, Jakarta – A former rebel negotiator won a landmark gubernatorial election in Indonesia's once-restive Aceh Province, the region's electoral commission announced Friday.

Banda Aceh – A former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel won the first direct election for governor of Aceh province, the electoral commission announced on Friday, a step in a peace deal that ended decades of conflict in Aceh.

Lindsay Murdoch – Two years after the Boxing Day tsunami more than 25,000 poor and landless families in the hardest hit area of Indonesia's Aceh province are being denied housing under a massive rebuilding program.

Ahmad Pathoni, Banda Aceh – At 30, Beti has to raise her four young children alone after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami snatched her husband, and she has no regular job.

Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh – Sharia-style local government bylaws in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam are bringing unnecessary hardship to the Acehnese and discriminating against women, people from the province say.

Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh – As the ballot counting continues from last week's elections in Aceh, it is clear voters favored independent candidates with ties to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), giving them a mandate to introduce needed changes to the province.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – While the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) on Friday concluded its 15-month mandate to supervise the implementation of the peace agreement in the province, non-governmental organization InterPeace will soon begin work to monitor the peace process.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The government has finalized a draft regulation to establish local political parties in Aceh, which will only allow candidates to run for national House of Representatives seats with backing from national parties.

Fabio Scarpello in Banda Aceh – A draft sharia law in Aceh that calls for thieves to have their hands chopped off has angered many in the province. But the local religious authority says the law is not a big deal and reflects the will of the people.

With two former members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) apparently set to claim victory in last week's landmark gubernatorial election in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, some parties have voiced concern over the future of the province.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A sharia bill that would see convicted thieves have their hands amputated has sparked strong opposition among Acehenese, who believe the punishment should be imposed on those guilty of corruption.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should dissolve itself after establishing a local political party within six months, the EU-led international monitors for the former war-torn province said here Saturday.

Jonathan Dart – The task of rebuilding Aceh after the war and the tsunami has changed the role traditionally played by women.

Groups such as the International Organization for Migration and JARI Aceh have coopted women into learning new skills and starting their own enterprises.

Jonathan Dart, Banda Aceh – Every time Ibrahim bin Yatim gets a new DVD, people squeeze into his tiny warung in Montasik, near Banda Aceh.

It's a small, nondescript wooden shack, surrounded by rice paddies; it can seat only a dozen people, but nobody seems to care – they eat their noodles standing up, and Ibrahim can barely keep up with the demand.

Nani Afrida and Tony Hotland, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) on Friday officially ended its 15-month mandate to supervise the implementation of the peace agreement in the province.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Banda Aceh – The imminent victory of the Irwandi-Nazar ticket in the Aceh gubernatorial election is a GAM (Free Aceh Movement) victory despite the fact that the former rebel movement is split as it transforms itself into a political party. It's a promise of a new Aceh, and should provide a lesson for all involved.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Former Free Aceh Movement leader Irwandi Yusuf, who leads Aceh's gubernatorial race, will face an uphill struggle to govern the province, analysts said Thursday.

Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh – While peace finally has descended upon Aceh, past wounds have yet to heal. A hundred people, claiming to be victims of past rights abuses in the province, demonstrated here Thursday urging the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) and the Aceh Reintegration Agency (BRA) to resolve their cases.

Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh – Foreign monitors on Thursday reported to the local poll supervisory body (Panwaslih) a number of violations during Monday's landmark elections in Aceh.

Meanwhile, Irwandi Yusuf and running mate Muhammad Nazar continue to lead in the preliminary vote count for the gubernatorial election.

Banda Aceh – Human rights protesters demonstrated in Indonesia's Aceh province on Thursday, urging international monitors overseeing a historic peace deal between the government and separatist rebels to stay on.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The imminent victory of former rebel candidates in the Aceh gubernatorial election is a signal of the popularity the movement in the resource-rich province and Aceh people's rejection of Jakarta politics, observers say.

Ian Timberlake, Banda Aceh – Civilians in Indonesia's Aceh province show levels of combat-related stress, depression and anxiety comparable with those in Afghanistan and Bosnia, researchers say.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) conducted the study with Harvard Medical School's Department of Social Medicine and Aceh's University of Syiah Kuala.

Mark Forbes, Banda Aceh – Voters in Aceh have delivered a massive rebuff to Jakarta, overwhelmingly endorsing a radical rebel candidate as their first elected governor and demonstrating that resentment against Indonesian rule still burns bright.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The central government brushed off worries Tuesday about the likely victory of a former rebel leader in the landmark Aceh gubernatorial election, saying whoever won would deserve the top post in the provincial administration.

Nani Afrida and Ati Nurbaiti, Banda Aceh – Former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman Irwandi Yusuf is leading with over 39 percent in unofficial results from the landmark gubernatorial election in Aceh.

Jakarta – Elections in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province have swept a former rebel leader to victory, unofficial results show as officials tot up the ballots.

The polls, consolidating a peace accord after nearly three decades of war, were hailed by UN chief Kofi Annan as "historic" and by the European Union.

Tanja Vestergaard – The elections constitute the culmination of the peace process initiated in 2005 between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government, following a drawn-out separatist struggle

Banda Aceh – Thieves could have their hands amputated in Indonesia's Aceh province under a proposed Islamic law that may alarm rights activists and Western governments.

Activists say sharia law bodes ill for their rights as province today elects governor, writes Fabio Scarpello

Robin McDowell, Banda Aceh – A former rebel leader appeared headed to easy victory Monday in the first elections in Aceh province since the government and the separatists signed a peace deal in the tsunami-ravaged region last year, according to a sampling of votes tallied by two respected local pollsters.

Ian Timberlake, Banda Aceh – Former separatist rebels have no alternative but to follow the political path after laying down their weapons, a key candidate backed by ex-combatants has said ahead of elections in the tsunami-ravaged Indonesian province.

Nur Raihan, Banda Aceh - Around 100 Aceh activist held a demonstration in front of the Aceh Independent Election Commission (KIP) offices on Monday December 10.

Aside from commemorating International Human Rights Day that falls today, they also called on the government to solve past cases of human rights crimes and violations in Aceh.

Achmad Sukarsono, Meunasah Bak'you – Teungku Sobirin lost his seven children and home to the tsunami that devastated Indonesia's Aceh province two years ago, but he believes there was a lesson in it for the war-weary province.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The end of the Truth and Reconciliation (KKR) law raises further questions about the government's commitment to the human rights section of the Aceh peace agreement signed in Helsinki last year.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Aceh was like a wild horse in need of a brave jockey to tame it, the former rebel leader making a strong run for governor in the Indonesian province's first democratic elections said yesterday.

Dayah Tanoh – Before last year's peace deal, Cek Bi used to lie awake at night listening to gunfire rattling through her village. Now, the 40-year-old widow hopes Monday's elections will make the government-rebel truce in Indonesia's Aceh province irreversible.

Amy Chew, Banda Aceh – He was convicted of treason and imprisoned at the Keudah Prison in the provincial capital here in 2003.

When the epic tsunami struck on Dec 26, 2004, it swept away the prison walls in a massive torrent and Irwandi suddenly found himself a free man. "The tsunami came, the jail went away and I went home," he laughed.

Ati Nurbaiti, Banda Aceh – On the eve of polling day on Dec. 11, Mutia says she will perform special prayers to ask God who to vote for. "I will perform the istiqoroh prayer to make my decision," she said Wednesday, while attending a rally held by a gubernatorial candidate.

Banda Aceh – Thousands of people flocked to final election rallies on the last day of campaigning for landmark polls in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Former rebels in Aceh will form a political party within six months, opening up the way for their participation in the 2009 national elections, officials said Saturday.

Jerry Norton, Banda Aceh – Indonesia will soon set the ball rolling to allow former rebels in Aceh to establish a political party and join the mainstream in the once volatile province, a top peace monitor said on Saturday.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Dozens of people claiming to be victims of the conflict in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam rallied in front of the Independent Commission for Elections in Banda Aceh on Thursday, threatening to boycott the upcoming regional elections.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Students and teachers can still remember the moment they had to immediately remove their chairs and desks from their school, the No. 99 Neusu Elementary School in Banda Aceh, which was to be demolished by heavy machinery for reconstruction the next day.

Jakarta – Local elections in Indonesia's Aceh province pose a challenge for former separatist rebels in their transformation from an armed insurgency into a political movement, the International Crisis Group said Wednesday.

Banda Aceh – A second electoral worker has been abducted since the start last weekend of campaigning for milestone elections in Indonesia's Aceh province, police said Wednesday.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Infighting ahead of the coming landmark Dec. 11 elections in Aceh has hurt the rebel group that stopped its fight to split the province from Indonesia to instead pursue peace, a top think-tank said on Wednesday.

Contents

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has taken a neutral stance toward all candidates in the first gubernatorial election in Aceh, following a controversy over whether it was supporting certain candidates.