Jakarta – Three months after placing Aceh province under martial law, Indonesia is losing its campaign to win the "hearts and minds" of the Acehnese people, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) warned on Wednesday.

Al Gedicks, who teaches sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and is the author of "Resource Rebels: Native Challenges to Mining and Oil Corporations", says the internal conflict in Aceh is much more about politics and economics than religion.

Jakarta – Rebels trying to extort money from a family in Aceh have killed a woman and wounded her journalist husband and their daughter.

Three armed men visited Mr Idrus Jeumpa in Lhokseumawe town late on Sunday to demand that he pay 20 million rupiah in overdue "taxes" to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the Banda Aceh-based Serambi newspaper said.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Lhokseumawe – After two months of martial law in war-ridden Aceh, the situation in the province turned more uncertain as pro-Jakarta groups of Acehnese took the law into their own hands .

Kirsten E Schulze – As Indonesia's military operation against the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakin Aceh Merdeka, or GAM) is entering its third month, it is becoming increasingly clear that an end to violence is not imminent.

A Lin Neumann, Jakarta – Using tactics inspired by the US military during the war in Iraq, the Indonesian military is keeping the domestic press under control and virtually barring foreign correspondents from covering the ongoing military offensive against separatist rebels in the northern province of Aceh.

Jakarta – Residents of Kuala district, Nagan Raya, took the law into their own hands over the weekend, taking hostage 36 family members of suspected members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

According to military authorities, this is the second action of its kind since a military operation was launched against the separatist movement.

Shawn Donnan, Lhokseumawe – Major General Bambang Darmono believes his mobile telephone proves the popularity of Indonesia's military operation against the separatists in Aceh province.

Jakarta – The military operation in Aceh to incapacitate Free Aceh Movement (GAM) forces will result in prolonged trauma in children. After they have become adults, their minds will be filled with sadness, revenge and they will tend towards violence.

Jakarta – An American reporter detained after hiding out with rebels in Aceh has been charged with immigration violations and is expected to go on trial next week, prosecutors said Friday.

William Nessen, who was working as a freelance reporter, was arrested June 24 when he turned himself in to the Indonesian military in northern Aceh.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Lhokseumawe – The number of refugees in war-torn Aceh keeps changing, but their misery remains due to poor sanitation at refugee camps.

Jakarta – Security personnel shot dead at least 25 rebels in two of the bloodiest days of the military offensive against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the Indonesian Military (TNI) said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the military has deployed its medical personnel to provide health aid for Acehnese people taking refuge in many districts in the province.

Jakarta/Lhokseumawe – Responding to widespread allegations of rights abuses in Aceh, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) is planning to set up posts in Bireuen and Lhokseumawe regencies to receive reports of rights abuses from local people.

Indonesian troops waging war on separatist rebels in Aceh province have shot dead at least 15 guerrillas in one of the bloodiest days of their two-month offensive, the military said.

Spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki said three members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were killed in raids and 12 more in six firefights on Wednesday but no soldiers were hurt.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Lawyers have raised concern over the government's failure to provide defense lawyers for members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) who are facing trial, saying the government is bound by law to make sure that all defendants are assisted by defense lawyers regardless of their crime.

A'an Suryana and Nani Farida, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe – Entering the eighth week of the integrated operation to restore security and order in Aceh, the military offensive has been proceeding far ahead of the humanitarian operation, with eight more alleged rebels killed but more than 42,000 people languishing in worrying conditions in refuge camps in the resource-rich province.

The European Union will question the Indonesian government about a "disturbing" lack of access to war-torn Aceh province after one of its aid workers was detained there overnight, a diplomat said.

Max Lane – On July 11 at the Taman Ismail Marzuki Jakarta Arts Center, more than 30 community, cultural, human rights and other organizations are sponsoring an Aceh Peace Concert.

James Balowski, Jakarta – The Indonesian military's (TNI) vicious little war against the people in its northern-most province of Aceh is reaching new heights, and new regulations to restrict the media and limit aid groups' and human rights workers' access are making it almost impossible to monitor the situation.

A'an Suryana and Nani Farida, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe – Despite the military's recent claim of territorial control over Aceh, the war between the military and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) peaked on Tuesday when 18 rebels were killed and several more soldiers were injured in separate clashes.

Jakarta – At least 71 members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will face charges of subversion, police in the Indonesian province said on Wednesday. The offense can carry a death sentence.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military has warned rebels in Aceh province to free five hostages, including a local TV crew, by a Tuesday evening deadline or face attack, an army spokesman said.

Jane Perlez, Jakarta – The Indonesian military has now declared that its tough offensive against rebels in the northern province of Aceh, originally supposed to last six months, would last much longer, maybe even 10 years.

Jakarta/Lhokseumawe – The number of Acehnese who have fled their homes has soared to 48,000 as the Indonesian military (TNI) intensifies its operations in the province.

Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah said on Sunday the number of Acehnese fleeing to makeshift refugee camps had risen from 32,000 at the beginning of last week to 48,000 over the weekend.

A'an Suryana, Lhokseumawe – At first she refused to be interviewed but then relented on the condition that she be quoted under a false name, Hanafiah. "I am afraid that I'll be killed after an interview," said the 50-year old women, a resident of Krueng Dhoe hamlet in Pidie regency.

Jakarta – At least 150 civilians have died, 80 have been wounded, and another 71 have gone missing since the government launched the integrated operation in the troubled province of Aceh on May 19, authorities say.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's top general says Aceh operations are "ahead of schedule", but admit the authorities may extend martial law for the province beyond the current six-month order.

The military and the police have also asked Parliament for an additional fund of US$220 million to finance the campaign against the separatist Free Aceh Movement.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said on Friday that the military operation against the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) had failed and urged both parties to go back to the negotiating table.

Indonesia's military claims it now controls all of Aceh province, six weeks after imposing martial law to crush separatist rebels. But local human rights groups are counting the civilian cost of the war... saying as many as 35-thousand Acehenese have fled their homes and hundreds more have been killed in attacks and air raids.

Presenter/Interviewer: Tricia Fitzgerald

John Aglionby, Jakarta – Separatists in the Indonesian province of Aceh yesterday dismissed military claims that Jakarta had taken control of the whole province and vowed to continue fighting until they get their freedom.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military claimed control over the whole of Aceh province yesterday, six weeks after it launched a huge operation to crush separatist rebels.

A'an Suryana, Lhokseumawe – The court martial of three soldiers for the rape of four women in Aceh will start on Friday, a court official in the North Aceh town of Lhokseumawe said on Wednesday.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Amid the military operation to crush the separatist movement in Aceh, the government has begun to screen a total of around 67,000 civil servants in Aceh to ensure their loyalty to the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.

Lesley McCulloch – In the police stations of Aceh, in Indonesia's far northwest corner, fear is the daily diet of the detainees. Not fear of the outcome of a due legal process, but fear of torture by Indonesian police to force a false confession.

Nani Farida and A'an Suryana, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe – Following Monday's bomb blasts in Aceh's provincial capital Banda Aceh, authorities said they would tighten security in the city, as terrorist acts mark a new threat in the war against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels.

Geneva – The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the world's largest coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) engaged in the fight against torture, would like to express its deep concern about the ongoing conflict in the province of Aceh, which, to a great extent, is being ignored by the international community.

Sidney Jones, Indonesia project director of Brussels-based analysts International Crisis Group suggests that the Jakarta government has an electoral interest in stirring up a nationalist backlash against foreign involvement in peace talks with separatists in Aceh.

Three Indonesian soldiers arrested for raping four women in war-torn Aceh province have confessed to the crimes, the military said.

The private soldiers are now being detained at military police headquarters in North Aceh, said military operations spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Yani Basuki.

A'an Suryana, Lhokseumawe – Soldiers captured on Friday two alleged Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists who acted as the rebels' district chief and police chief for the GAM district Tangse in the village of Pulo Kawah in Pidie regency.

Lhokseumawe – Aceh Separatist Movement (GSA) members may have infiltrated Acehnese society over the past few weeks to obtain newly issued "red-and-white" citizen's cards, a military officer said.

Kafil Yamin, Jakarta – Indonesia's armed forces might be winning the propaganda war in Aceh, thanks to "embedded" journalists, but activists warn that peace remains out of sight after more than a month of military operations. Instead, they say, the offensive in Aceh province that began on May 19 has taken a severe toll on civilians and on the rule of law.

A'an Suryana, Takengon – Tens of thousands of Central Aceh residents thronged Gelanggang Musara Alun soccer field in Bebesen district on Thursday for a rally against the separatist movement in the province.

Martial law authorities in Indonesia's Aceh have further tightened restrictions on foreign journalists and overseas non-government organisations (NGOs).

Jakarta – Twenty bodies were uncovered in two mass graves in Aceh province, police said yesterday, as President Megawati Sukarnoputri warned that a military offensive against rebels in the region may be extended.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights is drafting tough regulations to limit the presence of foreign non-governmental organization (NGO) activists in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, further closing the province to independent scrutiny.

Health officials in Indonesia's conflict-hit Aceh province have treated thousands of refugees for illnesses since they were moved into camps around the province to avoid fighting, an official said Wednesday.

James Balowski, Jakarta – It has now been a month since martial law was declared in Indonesia's northern-most province of Aceh. But the "integrated operation" launched by the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) to smash the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and win the hearts and minds of the Acehnese people has, if anything, only succeeded in alienating them further.

The spectre of past human rights abuses in East Timor and West Papua haunts the people of Aceh, where the Indonesian armed forces have begun attacking and murdering civilians as part of its crackdown on pro-independence fighters. John Martinkus, who risked his life in entering the rebellious province, details a disturbing but all-too-familiar picture of military atrocities.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The Indonesian army has sent dozens of British-made Scorpion tanks to Aceh ignoring concerns that it is defying British conditions of sale designed to prevent human rights abuses.

The TNI military spokesman for Aceh, Colonel Ditya Soedarsono, said the army had landed the tanks at the weekend to battle separatist rebels (GAM).

Nisam – An American holed up with rebels in Aceh province presented himself on Tuesday to the Indonesian Military which has threatened to prosecute him for allegedly spying.