Jakarta – The Indonesian navy has launched a special operation to cut off the distribution of guns and munitions from Thailand to the separatist movement in Aceh. Five warships were dispatched for the operation, and the navy will also check all ships travelling in waters around Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Clashes on Tuesday between Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels and security forces in the restive province of Aceh have left two civilians dead and 30 houses and shops damaged by fire, police and residents said on Wednesday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Last week's assassination of Aceh's former vice-governor illustrates just how dangerous taking a neutral stance is in Aceh these days.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have ransacked a Jakarta office of an Acehnese group linked to a fatal explosion here as the military picked up an Acehnese man suspected of manufacturing weapons for a rebel movement.

Banda Aceh – Mobile Brigade Police (Brimob) personnel have been combing villages in Pidie regency, Aceh, over the past two days, in what is suspected to be a mission to track down the Free Aceh Movement's (GAM) war commander, Tengku Abdullah Syafe'i.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Separatist rebels in Aceh declared a state of emergency yesterday, blaming the military offensive for the rising civilian death toll in the province.

Banda Aceh – At least three people were killed and four others were wounded in the latest violence between separatist rebels and government forces in the Indonesian province of Aceh, a report said Wednesday.

Banda Aceh – Continuing violence involving Indonesian government forces and separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has left at least five killed, police and residents said Sunday.

Jakarta – Sixty-seven people were killed in Aceh province between April 11 and April 29, Aceh's Human Rights Care Forum (Forum Peduli HAM Aceh) revealed on Wednesday.

John Haseman, Bangkok – Indonesia is resuming extensive military operations in the troubled province of Aceh after almost a year of fruitless political negotiations, humanitarian pauses and ceasefires which the government fears have considerably strengthened the separatist Aceh Merdeka guerrilla force (GAM).

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers were airlifted to the restive province of Aceh yesterday to mark a new phase of a potentially long and bloody guerilla warfare against rebels fighting for an independent state.

Banda Aceh – Independence fighters in the Indonesian state of Aceh pledged Sunday that they were ready for all-out resistance against new government troops being sent to the region.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which has been fighting for independence for the last 25 years, also warned non-Acehnese to leave the province immediately.

Banda Aceh – Violence in Indonesia's Aceh province has left at least five people dead since Thursday, hospital staff said.

Jakarta – A policeman and three separatist rebels were killed in the continuing violence in strife-torn Aceh, an official said on Thursday.

Police's Cinta Meunasah II Operation spokesman Comr. Sudarsono said two rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were shot dead in West Aceh regency of Gagak village in Darul Makmur district on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Efforts to settle problems in the strife-torn province of Aceh took a new turn when the government revealed on Wednesday a plan to invite the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to the meeting table for talks.

Banda Aceh – At least six people were killed in renewed violence in the Indonesian province of Aceh at the weekend, police and residents said.

A policeman was killed and three others were injured afer a truck carrying them was ambushed by separatist rebels on Saturday, North Aceh district police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Wanto Sumardi said.

Jakarta – Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Wednesday that soldiers currently stationed at the ExxonMobil gas field in Aceh would be redeployed to perimeter duty to encourage the US-based firm to resume operations. Purnomo claimed that the removal of the soldiers was at the request of ExxonMobil.

John McBeth, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid and the Indonesian military are engaged in a renewed contest of wills, this time over the rapidly deteriorating security situation in westernmost Aceh province, which could put another nail in the president's political coffin.

Jakarta – Students from the Front for Anti Violence (Fomapak) staged a rally in front of the US Embassy located on Jl. Merdeka Selatan here today.

Pip Hinman – The Indonesian government's "limited" military operation, currently underway, is not just against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), but against the majority of Acehnese who want an end to the violence and a referendum on self-determination.

Ron Moreau – Soldiers dressed in combat fatigues and black hoods would normally inspire fear in an Acehnese village. But not these commandos. As nearly a dozen fighters approach the edges of a hamlet some 30 kilometers southwest of the town of Bireun, their hoods are revealed to be jilbab-the Muslim head scarves worn by women.

Enrique Soriano – The bleak panorama that unfolds on the drive from Lhokseumawe, the main town in North Aceh, to Medan is punctuated only by the dozens of armed checkpoints manned by the Indonesian army and the police.

Banda Aceh – Land transportation from Banda Aceh capital of Aceh province to Meulaboh in West Aceh has been interrupted over the last three days as unknown parties placed felled trees along the roads of the province's south and west coastal areas.

Jakarta – The government must shoulder its share of the blame for any consequences of a military deployment in restive Aceh province, a general has said quoted Thursday.

Jakarta – At least four people have been killed in the latest violence in Aceh, a report said Thursday, a day after the latest peace initiative in the troubled Indonesian province collapsed.

The bodies of two civilians, both with gunshot wounds, were found in separate locations in Langsa, East Aceh, on Wednesday, the province's main daily, Serambi, reported.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Aceh could split from Indonesia within a year if the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) does not step up operations to crush the rebel movement in the restive province, a top security official said yesterday.

Jacqueline M. Koch in Banda Aceh and Lindsay Murdoch in Jakarta – Soldiers patrol villages, their high-powered weapons ready to fire. Tanks rumble along rutted roads. Entire villages suspected of supporting separatist rebels are razed, forcing thousands of men, women and children into crude refugee camps.

Jakarta – The Information Center for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) will soon file lawsuit against the Indonesian Police Chief General Surojo Bimantoro over the murder of three human rights activists in South Aceh on March 29. We will file lawsuit against the Police Chief, said SIRA Presidium Ridwan in Jakarta on the weekend.

Devi Asmarani, Aceh – A simple bus trip at night can turn deadly in this violence-wracked province, where residents live in constant fear of being caught in vicious clashes between Indonesian troops and separatist guerillas.

Jakarta – The guilty verdict handed down to Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar drew condemnation on Thursday with some saying the trial, criticized as a political maneuver which made Nazar a prisoner of conscience, contained legal defects.

Jakarta – The US embassy here on Friday deplored the "senseless" and "brutal" murder of three Indonesians involved in the peace process in restless Aceh province, and urged the government to investigate the killings.

Jakarta – Two human rights activists and their driver were shot dead in Aceh in an attack that suggests humanitarian workers were being targeted by Indonesian security forces in the rebellious province, a rights group said on Friday. Police confirmed the killings, but said they suspected rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were responsible.

Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh Court sentenced Central Information for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar on Wednesday to 10 months in prison for displaying hostile intentions toward the state. The 27-year-old defendant was found guilty of inciting hostility against the state.

Pip Hinman – The Indonesian military is stepping up its war against the Acehnese people.

Jakarta has declared a "limited military operation" to "rid" Aceh of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). The Indonesian government has branded GAM a "separatist" organisation.

Jakarta – Hundreds of activists of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) held a rally in front of the Dutch Embassy on Wednesday to demand that the Dutch government return Aceh to the Acehnese.

The protesters started arriving at 1 a.m. and occupied the slow lane in front of the embassy building on Jl. HR Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

Banda Aceh – At least 14 people were killed in a series of clashes between government forces and separatist rebels in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh, police and residents said Sunday.

Daniel Cooney, Jakarta – Indonesia has deployed about 1,500 troops to protect Exxon Mobil oil fields from rebel attacks in the violence-plagued province of Aceh, the government said Saturday.

Jakarta – The United States government maintained on Thursday its opposition to separatism such as that in Aceh, but warned the Indonesian government to be "conscious of the local people's human rights."

Chris McCall, Jakarta – Rebel leaders in war-torn Aceh yesterday denounced plans by Jakarta to mount a new military operation there and said it would lead to a bloodbath on an appalling scale.

Banda Aceh – A leading supporter of independence for Aceh walked out of his trial Wednesday when it refused to call Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid or his representative as a witness.

Muhammad Nazar, chairman of the Information Centre for a Referendum in Aceh (SIRA), walked out of the Banda Aceh district court in protest with his defence lawyers.

Chris Latham & Pip Hinman – On February 20 the "cease-fire" between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian military (TNI) was extended for the third time since the so-called humanitarian pause in 2000. These declarations mean nothing, Syadiah Marhaban from the Aceh Referendum Information Centre (SIRA) told Green Left Weekly.

Jakarta – Indonesian authorities are planning to launch "limited security operations" against separatist rebels in the troubled province of Aceh, Defence Minister Muhammad Mahfud said Tuesday.

Banda Aceh – The judges of the Banda Aceh District Court ruled on Monday that the court could continue to try Acehnese independence activist Muhammad Nazar, ruling that the court had legal grounds on which to proceed. "The case will go ahead as there are sufficient legal grounds to justify this," presiding judge Farida Hanoem said during the second session of the trial.

Statements by top Indonesian Military (TNI) officers last week signaled mounting pressure on President Abdurrahman Wahid to take a harder line against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), with which he has been negotiating for a peaceful solution to the Aceh problem.

Jakarta – Exxon Mobil Indonesia's decision to halt oil and gas production in the troubled Aceh province has forced other major companies in the area to shut down too.

PT Arun LNG Co, a major exporter of liquefied natural gas to Japan and South Korea, officially stopped operations on Saturday, the Serambi daily said.

Dan Murphy, Lhokseumawe – The Aceh coffee is thick and sweet, the grounds sticking to the teeth the way they like it here, as a tense group sips and talks in the thatched shade of a cafe across from an ExxonMobil pump station.

Banda Aceh – The trial of an Acehnese independence activist charged with revolt opened at the Banda Aceh District Court on Thursday amid a tight security cordon and a silent protest.

Banda Aceh – At least seven people were killed and scores of others injured during a fresh outbreak of violence in Aceh between Sunday and Monday, officials and witnesses reported on Tuesday.

Five bodies bearing bullet wounds and lacerations were found in East Aceh on Monday during the celebration of Idul Adha in the predominantly-Muslim province.

Jakarta – Five judges have been appointed to the trial of Central Information for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar in the Banda Aceh District Court, which will begin on Thursday, Antara reported.

Banda Aceh – Seven people were killed in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, three of them when government troops retook a town held for 14 hours by rebels, police and residents said Saturday.

Two fishermen and an unidentified man were killed, apparently in the crossfire, when the troops retook Idi Rayeuk, a town of some 15,000 people in East Aceh on Friday.