Authorities in Indonesia's Aceh province have unearthed a grave containing the bodies of 48 people, a spokesman said yesterday. Lieutenant-Colonel Firdaus said the mass grave was found near Lhong village, in the west of Aceh, a province on the northern tip of Sumatra.

Banda Aceh – At least 30 bombs or grenade blasts were heard around the main city in the restive province of Aceh in the run-up to Indonesia's Independence Day Friday, residents said.

The blasts cut power to the provincial capital Banda Aceh for some hours Thursday night and badly damaged four banks, an AFP reporter saw. One was burnt to the ground.

Sam Frost – Oil giant ExxonMobil's operations in the Indonesian province of Aceh are to be examined by a US court, after 11 Acehnese filed a suit against the company, claiming to have suffered human rights abuses at the hands of military units acting on its behalf.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri Wednesday called for dialogue rather than violence to settle separatist pressures in Aceh and announced she would visit the restive province soon, officials said.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The Indonesian navy is stepping up patrols in the Straits of Malacca to block supplies to separatist rebels in Aceh, while President Megawati Sukarnoputri pursues a political solution to the conflict by summoning Acehnese community leaders to Jakarta yesterday.

Eighty supporters of Solidarity for the Acehnese Peoples Movement, mostly non-Acehnese, held a protest in Jalan Thamrin, a central Jakarta thoroughfare, on August 7.

Jakarta – Indonesia will not agree to an international probe into the massacre of 31 people in strife-ridden Aceh province because it would infringe upon its sovereignty, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said on Monday.

Agencies in Jakarta and Banda Aceh – Indonesia's new Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirayuda, said yesterday there was still room for peace talks in the troubled northern province of Aceh, where more than 1,100 people have been killed this year in escalating separatist conflict.

Banda Aceh – Thirty-one people were killed by unidentified gunmen on a palm-oil plantation yesterday, according to police and separatist rebels who accused each other of carrying out the attack.

Banda Aceh – Eleven people – three rebels, four policemen and four civilians – have been killed in the latest clashes between Indonesian government forces and separatist guerrillas in the restive province of Aceh, a report said Wednesday.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Scores of Acehnese activists have been arrested in Jakarta in recent days as part of the military's no-holds-barred campaign against separatism in the restive province, Aceh sources said yesterday.

Jakarta – Community leaders in an oil-rich Indonesian province have threatened to block the operations of a Caltex affiliate unless Jakarta reviews a decision to extend its contract by one year, a report said Monday.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian police said Saturday they had arrested a sixth rebel peace negotiator in the restive province of Aceh amid an intensifying anti-guerrilla crackdown by security forces.

Jakarta – Indonesian security forces have shot dead 10 suspected separatist rebels in various clashes in the flashpoint province of Aceh, the army and police said Friday.

Since the Indonesian armed forces launched new military operations at the beginning of May, conditions for the population of Aceh have rapidly deteriorated. A massacre in Central Aceh resulted in scores of deaths. The death toll in the first half of 2001 exceeded one thousand, most victims being civilians.

Banda Aceh – Five people – four suspected rebels and an Indonesian soldier – have been killed in the restive province of Aceh, police and the military said Wednesday.

Will Hardie, Stockholm – Rebels from Indonesia's restive Aceh province warned new president Megawati Sukarnoputri on Wednesday that she must rein in her military and release jailed rebel officials or jeopardise peace talks.

Jakarta – In an effort to end a long-running separatist war, Indonesia's Parliament yesterday passed a Bill granting Aceh province sweeping autonomy. The legislation, which will not come into effect until 2002, is not expected to have any immediate effect on the conflict which has claimed over 900 lives this year.

Jon Land – Three activists from the Acehnese Democratic Peoples Resistance Front were detained by police in Banda Aceh on July 11 during a protest against the United States-based company ExxonMobil.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian troops shot dead three more separatist rebels in Aceh as representatives from both sides entered a third-day of talks here, the military said Wednesday.

Banda Aceh – Violence pitting Indonesian government forces against separatist rebles in the restive province of Aceh has claimed another four lives, police and the military said Monday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The Indonesian army is training and equipping Javanese migrants in Aceh to defend themselves against independence rebels in the province, non-governmental groups say.

Vaudine England in Jakarta – A Javanese militia has formed in Central Aceh and, with encouragement from security forces, is stoking conflict between Acehnese and other ethnic groups in the separatist province, human rights workers and analysts believe.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia has started forming East Timor-style militias in oil- and gas-rich Aceh, where scores of civilians are being murdered under the cover of a brutal crackdown against separatist rebels, say Acehnese leaders and human rights workers.

Banda Aceh – Clashes in Indonesia's oil-rich province of Aceh have killed at least 12 people including five suspected separatist rebels, and endangered food supplies to residents, officials said Tuesday.

Guerrillas of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) said they had attacked an outpost of US oil giant ExxonMobil in retaliation for violence directed at locals by security forces.

Banda Aceh – At least nine people and possibly up to 14 died in weekend violence in Indonesia's blood-drenched Aceh province, the military and residents said Monday.

Jakarta – The United States government has maintained its support for the unitary state of Indonesia, saying it will never back any effort by Aceh separatists to secede from the country, aUS official said in Washington D.C. on Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesia has suspended a joint committee with Acehnese rebels that was monitoring security in the province where about 1,000 people are believed to have died this year, reports said Friday.

The suspension was slammed by the Free Aceh (GAM) rebels as one-sided and callous and followed the resumption of talks between Jakarta and GAM in Switzerland last weekend.

Jakarta – A draft autonomy bill for Indonesia's bloodied Aceh province, which radically multiplies its oil and gas profits but has won little support from Aceh's own leaders, is set to be presented to the government Wednesday.

Banda Aceh – At least 49 people were killed or found dead in the violence-plagued Indonesian province of Aceh during the weekend, hospital and rebel sources said Sunday.

The violence continued as representatives of the government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were meeting for peace talks in Geneva.

Banda Aceh – Optimism looms ahead of the upcoming two-day peace talks between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) scheduled to take place in Geneva from Monday.

Lhokseumawe – Indonesian security forces killed 22 rebels in two separate gunbattles in Aceh province, officials said yesterday. In the most recent fighting, government soldiers shot 20 separatist guerillas in a gunbattle in central Aceh, said military spokesman Lt-Colonel Firdaus.

Banda Aceh – At least five people were killed in Indonesia's Aceh province which has been wracked by separatism, the military and activists said on Sunday.

Letitia Stein, Washington – A human rights group has filed suit against Exxon Mobil, accusing the world's largest oil company of rights abuses in Indonesia. The company has denied the allegations.

Jakarta – Indonesia's state oil company Pertamina on Friday described as misguided a human rights case filed in Washington against US oil giant ExxonMobil over its operations in Indonesia.

Banda Aceh – At least 12 people have been murdered or found dead over recent days in Indonesia Aceh province amid violence pitting separatist rebels against government forces, aid workers and residents said Thursday.

Banda Aceh – The cycle of violence in Aceh seems unending as witnesses and officials reported the death on Monday of at least another eight people in various locations in the province.

G.K. Goh, Banda Aceh – At least 18 people have been killed in violence pitting separatist rebels against government forces in the oil and gas-rich province of Aceh, the Indonesian military and residents said Sunday.

Jakarta – Indonesian officials and rebel leaders from Aceh province will resume peace talks in Geneva next month in yet another bid to resolve a bloody separatist conflict that has raged for decades, local media reported on Saturday.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian military (TNI) troops claimed to have raided two main bases of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebel group in the village of Jiemjiem, Bandar Baru district, Pidie regency on Wednesday.

Banda Aceh - Police claimed on Monday that at least 16 people had been killed in guerrilla attacks on transmigration sites in Central Aceh since Sunday. Aceh Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Sad Harunantyo said the Javanese migrant settlers were killed when the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels on Sunday and early Monday attacked Kresek and Lindung Bulan villages.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The bodies of six people, including a boy, have been found in Aceh, taking the death toll from a military offensive launched on April 11 to almost 200. Police said the bodies of five of the latest victims were bullet-riddled while a sixth bore torture marks.

Jakarta – Lawyers from Aceh yesterday urged the Indonesian government to ensure that courts are run properly after judges fled the troubled province fearing for their safety.

Vadline England – While politicians jockey for position in Jakarta and peace talks open and close in Geneva, the death toll on the killing grounds of Aceh continues to rise. More than 900 people have been killed so far this year in the province where an independence movement is battling Indonesian security forces.

Medan – The Medan District Court, under heavy security, began on Thursday the trial of Ligadinsyah, alias Azis bin Ibrahim Linggo, believed to be the deputy commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for the Central Aceh area.

Banda Aceh – Fifteen people were killed or found dead in two days in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, as rebels and the military traded accusations over the torching of scores of homes, authorities and residents said Thursday.

Max Lane, Jakarta – More than 500 people, Acehnese and Indonesians, attended a series of lively debates and cultural events at conference organised by the Acehnese People's Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA) and the Popular Youth Movement (GPK), a youth organisation in political solidarity with the People's Democratic Party (PRD), held May 18-20.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia's six-week-old crackdown on Aceh's separatist rebels is as bad as any experienced during the worst years of the military operation conducted under the rule of former President Suharto, residents say. But the bloodshed has done little to dent the separatist movement or to capture the "hearts and minds" of the Acehnese people.

Banda Aceh – Four people, including two rebels and a soldier, were killed in the latest violence in Indonesia's Aceh province as clashes continued between separatist rebels and government troops, a report said here Wednesday.