Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta – A 12-day-long protest by 600 Acehnese transmigrant refugees over the slow disbursement of resettlement funds has claimed the life of one, and hospitalized four others.

Ibnu Matnoor, Banda Aceh – The killing of four Acehnese in the latest spree of violence on Saturday has increased the distrust between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), pushing their three-month-old peace agreement closer to the brink of collapse.

Three Indonesian policemen were wounded in the latest skirmish with rebels despite a ceasefire agreement in Aceh province, police said.

Banda Aceh – Eight Indonesian student activists said here Monday they have begun a hunger strike to demand freedom of speech in the restive province of Aceh. AFP reported the eight began their fast under a tent outside the office of the Joint Security Committee (JSC) which oversees a peace pact between the government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement.

Jakarta – A fact-finding team of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) have discovered that the local military was allegedly involved in the recent attack on the office of the Aceh peace monitoring team in Takengon, Central Aceh.

The military, however, denied the allegation and described the Kontras report as "absolute rubbish".

Jakarta – Army chief Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu said the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is not only an enemy of the Indonesian Military (TNI), but is also an enemy of the state.

Pip Hinman – Australia-based Scottish academic Lesley McCulloch and US nurse Joy-Lee Sadler were arrested in Indonesian-occupied south Aceh on September 11. They were beaten, harassed and jailed for five months and four months respectively on charges of "violating" their visas.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia's first Islamic courts for criminal cases were opened in the staunchly Muslim Aceh province on Tuesday as part of efforts to calm separatist passions in the area.

Aceh separatist rebels have accused Indonesian security forces of condoning a militia attack on the office of a peace monitoring team in hopes of wrecking a ceasefire in the province.

Banda Aceh – A mob yesterday attacked the office of an international peace monitoring team in Aceh, injuring one Indonesian soldier and one rebel representative, police said.

Jakarta – Nearly 4,000 angry Acehnese surrounded an office staffed by peace monitors including three Thai soldiers in the restive Indonesian province on Monday, threatening the group until police whisked them to safety.

Jakarta – A ceasefire in Aceh's bloody separatist war is already looking shaky and major issues must be settled to salvage what could be the last chance for peace, an international research group said yesterday.

Martin Griffiths – On Sundays at the beach in Lampu near Banda Aceh, young couples stroll across the sand holding hands, laughing and flirting. Children frolic in the surf and sit on its foamy edge building sand castles. Families picnic. Games of football and volleyball seemingly break out spontaneously across the mile-long stretch of sand.

A group mediating a peace pact between the Indonesian government and separatists in Aceh province, plans to deploy 15 personnel to promote the peace accord there.

The personnel will shortly be deployed in eight districts to promote the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.

Jakarta – Aceh province will inaugurate its first Islamic sharia court on March 4 as part of the broad autonomy granted to curb separatist sentiment, AFP reported.

Iggy Kim – The Indonesian government has again violated the December 10 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA). The agreement was supposed to bring an end to violence in Aceh.

Indonesian authorities have arrested Acehnese civil rights activists and unleashed military raids into territory controlled by the Acehnese independence movement.

Jakarta – The military on Monday denied accusations by the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that troops had raided a rebel base in violation of a peace pact signed in December, AFP reported.

The separatist Free Aceh Movement in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh has accused government forces of several serious violations of the peace pact signed in December.

A Free Aceh Movement or GAM representative in the Joint Security Committee said that dozens of soldiers raided a base in Central Aceh district on Wednesday, killing one rebel and injuring five others.

Banda Aceh – Twelve days have passed since the crucial "demilitarisation" phase of the Aceh agreement but separatist rebels have not started placing weapons in arms dumps and Indonesian troops have not begun withdrawing to defensive positions.

Over the past week in Aceh, Indonesia has repeatedly violated the December 10 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA), arresting civil movement activists and carrying out military offensives.

According to Pip Hinman, national coordinator of Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP), this is because Indonesia is not serious about peace in Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Government troops and rebels in Aceh are both guilty of serious breaches of a recent peace deal, the Swiss-based group mediating the conflict between the two sides said yesterday.

"It is clear and without any doubt in my mind that these cases constitute violations," said Major-General Tanongsuk Tuvinun, senior envoy for Geneva-based Henri Dunant Centre.

Aceh – The police in Banda Aceh are still pursuing a prodemocracy activist Kautsar who mobilized Acehnese to go on strike recently without permission from security authorities.

The spokesman for the Aceh Provincial Police, Adj. Sr. Comr. Sayed Hoessainy, said on Friday the police would continue to hunt the suspect.

Indonesian police have arrested a leading pro-independence activist in Aceh province after accusing him of organising an unauthorised rally.

Muhammad Nazar, chairman of the Aceh Referendum Information Centre (SIRA), was detained after six policemen kicked down the door of his home at 1.30 am, according to his wife.

Nani Farida and Ibnu Matnoor, Aceh – The Joint Security Committee (JSC) named on Monday six new peace zones to shore up the fragile peace deal between rebels and the government, which brought an end to almost three decades of a separatist war in the restive province of Aceh.

Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh said they have begun disarming as part of a peace deal but warned that the military must relocate its troops if the process is to continue.

Some weapons were stored at a beach area in East Aceh on Sunday, said the Free Aceh Movement's (GAM) military chief Muzakkir Manaf.

Aceh arrests and attacks expose sham of Indonesia's commitment to peace process

Over the past week in Aceh, Indonesia has repeatedly violated the December 10 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA), arresting civil movement activists and carrying out military offensives.

After five months jail in an Indonesian prison, Australian academic Lesley McCulloch has been finally been released. The British-born McCulloch was sentenced to five months prison for visa violations in Indonesia's rebel Aceh province. She was detained on September 10 with American nurse Joy Lee Sadler.

Matthew Moore – The academic Lesley McCulloch was yesterday released after five months' imprisonment in Indonesia's Aceh province and will return to Australia next month to write an account of her experience.

The Indonesian government and Aceh rebels on Sunday entered the crucial demilitarization stage in the process to end a bloody 26-year separatist war in the resource-rich province.

Kornelius Purba, Aceh – As stipulated by the cessation of hostilities agreement signed by Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the GAM rebels are to begin disarming by February 9, while the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police will at the same time begin pulling back their combat forces to defensive areas.

Nani Farida, Aceh – Demilitarization in the restive province of Aceh is scheduled to start on Sunday as part of last December's peace deal to end long-standing hostilities, but exactly how it will work remains unclear.

Nani Farida, Aceh – Residents of the troubled Aceh are angry about what they see as their exclusion from the peace process, which has yet to bring a complete halt to separatist violence.

Residents say that those in charge of the peace process are sidelining them and their efforts to get involved in implementing the December 9 peace pact.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – With the signing on December ember 9, 2002 of the cessation of hostilities agreement between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the Acehnese people began to feel emboldened enough to speak about the crimes committed by GAM in the past, starting with the three mass graves found in Kemukiman Manggamat, South Aceh.

Tiarma Siboro, Lhokseumawe – Compensation money is often given in exchange for a loss of property or a relative, but it cannot bring back a loved one, or in many cases, compensate for the bitter feelings felt.

Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province yesterday said that they were ready to start handing over weapons under a December ember peace deal but questioned the army's commitment to the pact.

Nani Farida, Aceh – The almost two-month-old cessation of hostilities agreement between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is under threat by violations committed by both sides.

Both GAM and the military have been found guilty of numerous violations and neither side has taken action against those responsible for the breaches, leading to a loss of mutual confidence.

Kiki Syahnakri, Jakarta – All the parties involved in the recent signing of the peace deal between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) deserve sincere appreciation, especially given the protracted conflict in Aceh and the vast loss of life and material damage there.

The Indonesian military has threatened to use force against Aceh separatist rebels if they fail to disarm starting February 9 as required by a December peace agreement.

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his deep concern over the ongoing meeting of Free Aceh Movement (GAM) figures in Aceh, saying it constituted military consolidation aimed at strengthening the separatist movement.

About 200 students have urged monitors overseeing a peace pact between the Indonesian government and Aceh separatist rebels to investigate the shooting of two brothers.

Unidentified gunmen shot the two brothers who were riding a motorcycle in Aceh Besar district on Saturday, killing one of them and critically wounding the other.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – North Sumatra Police must go all out to stop drug trafficking from the war-torn province of Aceh following last week's arrest of three Acehnese women here with 1.5 tons of marijuana, antidrug campaigners say.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The highest-ranking commander of the military wing of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has publicly announced his support for the agreement with the government, although he also emphasized that GAM would continue with its much-criticized practices, including the collection of funds from the public.

Jakarta – The first weapon-free zone will open in Indonesia's Aceh province this week to help cement a peace deal that both sides have violated less than two months after signing it, mediators said on Sunday.

A committee monitoring a ceasefire in Aceh province has for the first time criticised both the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group and the Indonesian government for truce violations.

Alan Sipress, Banda Aceh – On New Year's Eve, city streets once emptied by fear swelled with revelers, despite persistent drizzle.

Jakarta – Three male bodies have been unearthedfrom one grave in Aceh province despite the ceasefire in the separatist war, AFP reported.

The bodies were dug up Monday at a palm oil plantation at Kuta Makmur in North Aceh district, said a witness.

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The top security minister warned on Monday that Indonesia could withdraw from the peace agreement with the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) if the international monitoring team failed to take "serious action" to stop violence in the restive province.

An Indonesian soldier has been killed by rebels in the province of Aceh, putting a five-week old ceasefire to the test. The Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement signed a cessation of hostilities agreement in Geneva on December 9. Twenty one people have been killed in Aceh since the deal was struck.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Ambassadors from the United States, Japan and Italy arrived here on Monday for a two-day visit to show support for a recent peace agreement to end decades of hostilities in the troubled province of Aceh.

Jane Perlez, Banda Aceh – An American nurse freed after having been convicted by the Indonesian authorities of visa violations, which involved contacting separatist rebels, says she wants to continue her one-woman health mission among displaced people.