Jakarta – The Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), a coalition of non-government organisations who are active in the field of human rights monitoring, are calling on the TNI (armed forces) so submit to and comply with policies issued by the civilian government, particularly policies seeking a peaceful or negotiated settlement to the Aceh conflict.

Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel group narrowed their differences when they concluded on Tuesday their fourth round of informal talks aimed at seeking enduring peace in Aceh. Both sides also agreed to resume negotiations in July, before a peace deal, if there is to be one, is struck.

Becky Lipscombe, Lampuuk – Lampuuk was virtually destroyed in the 26 December tsunami Five months after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated large parts of the Indonesian province of Aceh, the village of Lampuuk is still struggling to get back on its feet.

Tiarma Siboro and Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Peace talks with Aceh rebel leaders are unlikely to bring any significant changes to the long-standing conflict in the tsunami-ravaged province unless the government accepts two key demands raised in Finland, an Acehnese sociologist says.

Jakarta – Talks to end a separatist rebellion in Aceh Province are stirring hopes for peace after three decades of violence, but experts say the optimism looks misplaced.

Finnish mediators are to draw up an outline of a long-sought peace deal between Aceh separatists and the Indonesian government after winding up a fresh round of talks, they said.

Nationalist lawmakers on Wednesday slammed Indonesia's moves to make peace with rebels in Aceh province, saying they don't believe the guerrillas intend to drop their separatist goals despite their latest talks with the government.

Jerry Norton, Samahani – Standing ankle-deep in the muddy rice paddy he is working with a wooden-handled hoe, Abdullah, 56, said after three decades of fighting between the Indonesian government and Acehnese rebels, he had had enough.

The pro-independence movement in the war-torn Indonesian province of Aceh expressed optimism on peace moves, a day before an EU delegation was to add weight to negotiations in Finland.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – While many take peace for granted, for the Acehnese it is a treasured, yet elusive goal, reflected in the mixed reactions to the ongoing dialog between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki, Finland.

Matti Huuhtanen – Indonesian government and rebel negotiators discussed proposals for amnesty and self-government Sunday in the fourth day of talks in Finland aimed at ending the decades-old separatist conflict in Aceh province, the Finnish mediator's office said.

Separatists from the war-torn Indonesian province of Aceh said they will push for a ceasefire in their almost 30-year-old conflict with the Indonesian authorities, at peace talks in Finland.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A week after the government lifted the state of civil emergency in Aceh, residents remain unsure exactly what, if anything, has changed.

Brad Adams, New York – On Dec. 25, 2004, eighteen people were reported killed in Aceh during clashes between the Indonesian military and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). This brought the official number of fatalities since martial law and full scale military operations were declared in the province in May 2003 to 2,300.

Aguswandi, London – Post-tsunami reconstruction in Aceh is difficult work. It is not made any easier by the public being rendered illiterate by the process. Many local activists and local people I have spoken with say that many international groups and even the government seem to be more accountable to their donors and international bodies than to the Acehnese.

James Balowski, Jakarta – At midnight on May 18, the Indonesian government declared an end to its two-year civil emergency in Indonesia's northern-most province of Aceh. But calls by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and human rights groups for the troops to be withdrawn have been ignored.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesian negotiators and Acehnese rebels Will begin a fourth round of peace talks in Helsinki on Thursday, with the atmosphere badly strained by the government's rejection of a key separatist demand.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Legislators and the government have agreed not to open the door for more talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should the next round fail to strike a deal to put an end to the armed conflict in the province.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Hundreds of containers of humanitarian relief aid are still stranded in Belawan port in North Sumatra despite central government instructions that all of them be taken immediately to tsunami and earthquake victims in Aceh and Nias island.

Astrini D Anindita, Jakarta – The People's Representative Assembly (DPR) is calling on the government to end negotiations with Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders in Helsinki because they believe that it does not benefit the Indonesian government.

New York City Pension System Calls on Oil Company To Report on Risks to Investors from its Payments to Brutal Indonesian Military

Members of Peace Action Wellington today went to the Indonesian embassy to deliver the following letter. The letter was received by the Embassy and the Ambassador is digesting the contents.

Dan Eaton, Jakarta – Indonesia must show separatist rebels in tsunami-hit Aceh province that the central government is ready to compromise if it ever hopes to achieve a peace deal, a rebel adviser said on Thursday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's lifting of emergency rule in the tsunami-hit Aceh province was a "cruel joke" that came even as the armed forces were stepping up military operations, separatist rebels claim.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The government lifted on Wednesday the one-year civil emergency in tsunami-devastated Aceh through a presidential regulation, which also spells out the heavy presence of military troops there.

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.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Ahead of talks that it is hoped will seal an enduring peace in tsunami-devastated Aceh at the end of this month, a group of civilians born in Aceh will meet with leaders of GAM, which has been fighting for an independent state at the northern tip of Sumatra.

Jakarta – Only a week before representatives of the Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) are to meet for peace talks in Helsinki, an Indonesian court on Wednesday sentenced a senior GAM leader to life in prison for treason and illegal possession of weapons.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).