Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – With the six-month state of civil emergency in Aceh nearing an end, leading ulemas in the province suggested on Monday that the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono revive a dialog with Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels to settle decades of conflict there.

Nur Raihan, Banda Aceh – The prolonged conflict in Aceh cannot be resolved by arms. It is hoped that the new government will seek a fresh alternative to resolve the Aceh question instead of the integrated operation which has been implemented to date.

Suwarjono, Jakarta – The state of civil emergency in Aceh will end on November 18. Following this it could be extended for the entire province, part of the province or be reduced [to a state of civil authority].

Eworaswa, Jakarta – The Aceh Working Group (AWG), a grouping of non-government organisations concerned about the Aceh question, have put forward a three point plan to evaluate [whether or not to extend] the state of civil emergency in Aceh.

Aguswandi, London – Aceh will be the best place to judge whether the new government will be any different from previous regimes in Indonesia. One of the biggest challenges for Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono's government is to resolve the conflict in Aceh peacefully.

Yuswardi A. Suud, Banda Aceh – On November 1 a number of ministers from the Indonesian Cabinet of Unity arrived in Aceh to seek input before deciding on whether or not to extend the state of civil emergency in Aceh which will end on November 19.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian troops killed seven men they claimed were separatist rebels in the country's oil-and-gas rich Aceh province, the military said Sunday.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A group of armed men shot dead an elementary school teacher and injured his son and a neighbor in Sawang district, South Aceh regency, according to an official military account on Friday.

Jakarta – Two Acehnese non-government organisations, the Acehnese Popular Democratic Resistance Front (Front Perlawanan Demokratik Rakyat Aceh, FPDRA) and the Acehnese Democratic Women's Organisation (Organisasi Perempuan Aceh Demokrati, ORPAD) are demanding the fulfillment of President Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono's promise during the election campaign that there would be changes in Ac

[The following report was filed by the Aceh Working Group on 18 October, following their investigation of three places of detention, in Aceh and Java. The Group investigated 71 cases of persons who were repeatedly beaten and subjected to torture, both during interrogation as well as after having been tried in court, on charges of involvement in GAM, the Free Aceh Movement.]

Ivy Susanti, Jakarta – The Indonesian government will review the visa procedures for foreign diplomats to facilitate their travel to Indonesia, particularly Aceh, foreign affairs minister Hassan Wirayuda said on Thursday.

Hassan was commenting on an appeal by the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the European Union (EU).

Sunariah, Jakarta – The Acehnese Popular Democratic Resistance Front (Front Perlawanan Demokratik Rakyat Aceh, FPDRA) has rejected a decision by the coordinating minister of politics, legal and security affairs to extend the civil emergency in Aceh.

Flamboyan, Jakarta – The head of the European Union's Troika Delegation, Bernard Bot, said on Thursday October 28 that they were interested in visiting Aceh and West Papua.

Nani Farida and Tiarma Siboro, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – Peace, safety and justice for local officials implicated in corruption are all that the Acehnese are demanding from the Susilo administration as it prepares new policies for the province.

Jakarta – Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) governor Abdullah Puteh has said that the existence of the Free Aceh Movement in Aceh is still of concern.

Therefore, he has suggested three alternatives as regards the state of civil emergency in the province, which shall end on November 19.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Cabinet members dealing with security decided on Sunday their short-term priority programs, including a comprehensive review of the state of civil emergency in Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Thousands of Acehnese refugees from East Aceh regency have not returned to the regency because of the continued conflict here, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

Nani Afrida, Aceh – The Acehnese, who long for change, are largely upbeat over the inauguration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as president, as they believe he is more popular and more capable than his predecessor.

Banda Aceh – A senior separatist rebel on Tuesday was given 16 years in jail for treason in Indonesia's war-hit Aceh province.

Sayed Mustafa, a Free Aceh Movement rebel coordinator for southern and western Aceh, was also found guilty of illegal weapons possesion, said chief judge Azhari of the Tapaktuan district court in South Aceh.

Jakarta – Chief Justice Bagir Manan said the country's first sharia court in Aceh, which applies Islamic law, or sharia, could not work effectively due to the absence of related bylaws.

Jakarta – The coordinator of Indonesia's NGO Coalition for International Human Rights Advocacy (HRWG), Rafendi Djamin, hopes that president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) will repeal the state of civil emergency in Aceh as part of the program of the first 100 days of his administration and in such a way establish a process of development and the pre-conditions for peace in Ace

Jakarta, Kompas – The Aceh Working Group or AWG is urging the government to investigate human rights violations which have taken place in Aceh, many of which have been suffered by political prisoners in a various Acehnese jails.

Jakarta – Eight suspected separatists and a marine were killed in a fierce gunbattle in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, a military spokesman said Friday.

Police raided a squatter settlement in a Malaysian jungle, burning down shacks and arresting more than 100 illegal immigrants, mainly from Indonesia's war-torn Aceh province, a human rights group said Wednesday.

Maria Ulfah, Jakarta – Chief of Army Staff Ryamizard Ryacudu said he would not withdraw troops from conflict areas such as Aceh and Papua.

An Islamic judicial system has been introduced in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh as part of increased autonomy granted to the staunchly Muslim province by Jakarta.

"The head of the Supreme Court is currently in Aceh to inaugurate the operation of the Sharia Court there," said Andi Syamsu Alam, deputy chairman of the Supreme Court for religious court affairs.

Langsa – Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh expressed on Saturday his expectation that the armed conflict in his province would be settled soon. "I have a hunch that the armed conflict will be settled in three months time," he said.

"I base this on the fact that the security situation in Aceh is getting better while the people are more at ease and feel safer," he added.

Jakarta – The Acehnese Popular Democratic Resistance Front (Front Perlawanan Demokratik Rakyat Aceh, FPDRA) and the Acehnese Democratic Women's Organisation (Organisasi Perempuan Aceh Demokrati, ORPAD) are calling on the new government to repeal the state of civil emergency and withdraw all TNI (armed forces) and police troops from Aceh.

Banda Aceh – A rebel commander was among five guerillas killed in new violence in Indonesia's Aceh province, where the government is trying to crush an insurgency, the military said Thursday.

Soldiers shot dead the 26-year-old Free Aceh Movement district commander during a skirmish on Wednesday, said Aceh military spokesman Asep Sapari.

Washington – Amnesty International Wednesday urged Indonesian President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to give top priority to ending human rights violations in the restive province of Aceh.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Aceh environmental activist Bestari Raden, who has been found guilty of subverting national security and public order, has vowed to challenge the court's verdict.

One of Bestari's lawyers, Nurul Ikhsan, said on Tuesday his client, who was sentenced to two years and six months in jail, had pleaded not guilty, and would keep seeking justice.

Indonesia said Monday that security in war-torn Aceh province has improved because nearly 7,000 rebels have been killed or captured and most rebel strongholds seized in the past 16 months.

Saiful Mahdi, Ithaca, New York – The people have high expectations of the popular president-in-waiting Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, although some are skeptical of his capabilities. It is expected that he will wage an all-out war against corruption – as he promised – and bring about economic reform.

Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Military has captured Muhammad Aris, 72, the governor of the Aceh Free Movement (GAM) for Pidie region, in a raid in Pidie district, the military said on Sunday.

Indonesia needs to tidy up at home before it seeks membership of the UN Security Council.

It was an unhappy coincidence. On the same day that Indonesia launched its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, a human rights watchdog issued a report pointing to the routine use of torture by the Indonesian military against political prisoners in Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Aceh civil emergency administrator Insp. Gen. Bahrumsyah Kasman has questioned the recent Human Rights Watch reports detailing the systematic abuse of Free Aceh Movement prisoners.

"They have just created a story which has not been verified yet," Bahrumsyah, who is also Aceh police chief, said on Thursday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) is ready to punish soldiers found to have tortured detained members of the Aceh separatist movement to extract information, its spokesman, Lt Col Ahmad Yani Basuki, said here on Tuesday.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A leading rights watchdog has called on the next Indonesian president to reopen cases of alleged abuse and torture against Acehnese prisoners, saying the military and police were using violence to extract baseless confessions from those accused of having links to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel group.

Ellen Nakashima, Jakarta – Indonesian security forces have used torture and inhumane treatment to force confessions from suspected separatists and their sympathizers in the province of Aceh, where the government and rebels have fought a long-running conflict, a human rights group alleges in a report to be released Monday.

Banda Aceh – The continuing armed conflict in Aceh has cost the lives of husbands of 14,000 women in the province over the past 15 years, according to one agency.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The case file on First Lt. Simorangkir, a member of the Navy Military Police who shot five fellow soldiers in late August, has been submitted to the Military Court in Aceh for prosecution.

Banda Aceh – The Aceh government started on Tuesday its third "re-education" course in nationalism for former separatist rebels who had been captured or surrendered during the one-year military crackdown on the province. The course involves 340 former rebels who were previously in military jails.

Jakarta – Indonesian presidential front-runner Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday called for a peaceful end to Indonesia's bloodiest internal conflict, the 28-year separatist war in Aceh province.

Jakarta – A leader of the insurgents fighting Indonesian rule in Aceh province said Tuesday he expects the war to continue even if a former peace negotiator is elected as Indonesia's new president.

Adam Tyson, Toronto – Aceh has always been an essential part of the vast Indonesian archipelago, being of great historical, economic and symbolic importance.

Banda Aceh – The Indonesian military said separatist rebels had killed seven civilians in the war-torn province of Aceh, according to a report Saturday.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The United States ambassador-designate to Indonesia B. Lynn Pascoe said that encouraging and facilitating the peace process in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam would be among his priorities during his tenure in Indonesia. Current ambassador Ralph L. Boyce served in Indonesia since October 2001.

His name is not as popular as that of Ishak Daud or Sofyan Daud. But this rotund man is a key figure in the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). He says he is the one who linked up Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh with GAM Prime Minister Malik Mahmud at the end of 1999.

Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers who killed a senior separatist leader in the conflict-hit province of Aceh are to receive a reward equivalent to US$16,000, an official said on Saturday.

East Aceh Regent Azman Usmanuddin said he would make good on an earlier promise to reward anyone who caught rebel leader Ishak Daud "dead or alive".

Jakarta – Indonesian security forces killed 11 suspected rebels during gunbattles in the country's restive Aceh province, a military spokesman said Thursday.