Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Large crowds gathered on Friday in Banda Aceh and Pidie to watch tsunami survivors publicly caned for gambling.

It was the eighth time this year convicted gamblers have been publicly caned in Aceh, under the sharia law implemented in the province two years ago. The first public caning took place in Bireuen regency in June this year.

Nani Afrida and Tiarma Siboro, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – Former Aceh rebels have decided against celebrating the 29nd anniversary of their movement on Sunday to show their commitment to promoting peace in the province.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Despite the Aug. 15 peace pact that is helping to restore security in the once-restive Aceh, Acehnese devotion to the unitary state of Indonesia remains low, according to a survey.

John Aglionby, Nusa – The community noticeboard in Nusa is conspicuously underemployed. There are no updates on reconstruction programmes and the only bulletin on livelihood is a dog-eared one from June. The only recent notice advertises monthly distribution of rice, cooking oil, noodles and sardines to those who lost their homes in December's tsunami.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The former Aceh rebels will be free to celebrate the anniversary of their movement on Sunday as long as it does not rekindle separatism, the government says.

Medan/Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has warned former Aceh combatants against celebrating the anniversary of their organization, saying it would not be in accordance with the spirit of the peace agreement they signed in August.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – An international aid agency helping tsunami victims in Aceh has temporarily shut down operations after a group of youths ransacked its Medan office on Wednesday because they had not won an aid contract.

Ilyas, Langsa – Because the normative and other rights employees have not been accommodated by the leadership board of the Langsa City branch of the All Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI), scores of Langsa SPSI members held a demonstration and issued a motion of no confidence in the SPSI leadership.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Antigraft activists have criticized members of the Aceh and Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) as "overpaid and underachieving".

Imran MA, Eastern Aceh – On Monday November 21, Muhammad Nurdin (43), a resident of the Buket Paka village who has been a member of the Rantau Peureulak sub-district Red White Militia (Laskar Merah Putih, LMP) in Eastern Aceh, surrendered a hand grenade to a former member of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for the Peureulak region.

Jakarta – Former rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province successfully ended the third round of a weapons handover on Tuesday after struggling to surrender enough arms that met the criteria of international peace monitors.

Lhokseumawe – Indonesia pulled out more than 2,000 troops from Aceh province Saturday after the rebels handed over weapons as part of a peace deal to end 29 years of fighting, the province's military chief said.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Aceh provincial legislative council has completed drafting a new bill on the governing of Aceh, which would allow former rebels to set up local political parties that could participate in next year's election of top local administration officials.

Jakarta – Indonesian Military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto would welcome the possible return of Hassan Tiro, the self-exiled leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), to the province.

Alisa P, Banda Aceh – The composition of the draft law on the organisation of a government for Aceh as mandated by the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should not be a revision of the special autonomy law (Otsus) or Law Number 18/2001.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Khairil Anwar acknowledged he felt depressed. The head of Lamdingin village in Lambaro Skep district in Banda Aceh is under pressure from village residents desperately in need of houses.

"They are tired of living in tents for displaced persons and asked me to find new funding sources to build them houses," Khairil told The Jakarta Post.

Sian Powell, Mon Ikeun – It is damp, crowded and hot – a tatty canvas tent surrounded by mud and puddles and home to four adult Acehnese sisters and two children.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Many still living in tents, the Acehnese celebrated their first Idul Fitri almost a year after the tsunami devastated Aceh and parts of North Sumatra.

The time was also a time for many to quietly remember the loved ones, relatives and friends not present at festivities this year.

[The following Aceh backgrounder was prepared by the Australian solidarity organisation Asia Pacific Solidarity Network (APSN) to provide an background to the three-decade conflict in Aceh and on recent developments in the peace process following the December 26 2004 tsunami and earthquake.]

Repression and resistance

Bill Tarrant, Lampuuk – In a little shack they built on a rubble-strewn field where the tsunami travelled the farthest inland, a group of teenaged boys orphaned in the disaster have made themselves a family.

John Aglionby, Nusa – The community notice board in Nusa is conspicuously underemployed. There are no updates on reconstruction programmes and the only bulletin on livelihood is a dog-eared one from June. The only recent notice advertises monthly distribution of rice, cooking oil, noodles and sardines to those who lost their homes in December's tsunami.

Peter Fritsch, Banda Aceh – The tsunami story of fisherman Zamzami is sadly familiar: A black wave taller than the coastal coconut trees swallowed his home, his wife and five of his six children, none ever to be seen again.

Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Military (TNI) hailed on Tuesday the return of a top leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Bakhtiar Abdullah, to his homeland.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Observed by a crowd of hundreds, six convicted gamblers were caned on Monday in front of the Baitul Musyahadah Mosque here.

The public canings were the second such event in Banda Aceh and the seventh in the province, all of which were carried out as punishment for gambling. The first public canings took place in Bireuen regency in June this year.

For the first time in 25 years, an exiled leader of Aceh's separatist rebel movement has returned to the Indonesian province in a sentimental homecoming. Bachtiar Abdullah has lived in Sweden since 1980. His return to Aceh comes just three months after GAM signed a peace pact with Jakarta to end almost 30-years of insurgency.

Presenter/Interviewer: Linda LoPresti

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Ten months after the devastating tsunami that claimed more than 210,000 human lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of others last December, the public living in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam is still in trouble.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR) has lashed out at the Ministry of Finance for lacking a sense of crisis in delaying without clear reason several critical enabling regulations that would allow reconstruction work to proceed.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – In another positive sign for the peace process in Aceh, a top leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) arrived in his homeland on Monday after 25 years in exile overseas after a peace deal succeeded in ending nearly three decades of conflict in the province.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – It was almost dusk on Sunday, but a group of children at the refugee camp were still playing outside despite the mud after a heavy downpour in Banda Aceh.

Simon Parry – Oxfam has built around 300 homes so far at a cost of $ 25,000 each and hopes to build 920 on six different sites around Banda Aceh by the end of the year.

Simon Parry – Her shattered village was one of the most enduring images of the tsunami. Now, 10 months after the horror, Marini Hermansyah cradles her baby daughter in a mosquito-infested camp where survivors fear that the world has forgotten them.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Despite considerable progress, the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) for Aceh and Nias has been facing numerous technical and administrative obstacles that make the reconstruction and rehabilitation work slow in the disaster-devastated region.

Jakarta – Poor coordination has been blamed for the slow rehabilitation and reconstruction process in tsunami-struck Aceh, particularly in the areas of housing and economic recovery, a study reveals.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government insisted on Thursday that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should submit the names of its 3,000 former fighters as part of their integration process into society after a peace deal to end 29 years of separatist fighting.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Indonesia, criticised for slow reconstruction in tsunami-hit areas, has set up a special trust fund to speed rebuilding as the disaster's anniversary approaches, the agency in charge of rebuilding said on Friday.

Adi Warsidi, Banda Aceh – The number of cases of human rights violations in Aceh following the signing of the Helsinki agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has declined.

Banda Aceh – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has decided not to submit a list of names of some 3,000 former GAM fighters as requested by the Indonesian government as part of efforts to accelerate the reintegration process of the ex-rebels into the society.

Fitraya Ramadhanny, Jakarta – The presence of militia in Aceh post the peace negotiations in Helsinki still lays the grounds for the potential eruption of new forms of violence. It is because of this that the government is being urged to disband the militia, which still exist.

Simon Montlake, Leupung – Most days Farid Maulidi spends patching up a makeshift highway – filling in holes, repairing culverts, shoveling sand, directing traffic. As civil engineering jobs go, it's far from prestigious.

John Aglionby – The peace process begun two months ago by the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) is developing in a way virtually no observer predicted.

Lhokseumawe – Iskandar Muda Military chief Lt. Gen. Supiadin AS has said that despite the peace process in Aceh, blackmailing practices and criminal acts against the general public has increased.

A federal judge said Indonesian villagers can sue Exxon Mobil Corp. over allegations the Irving-based company contributed to human rights abuses by government security forces.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) demanded on Wednesday that the Indonesian Military (TNI) punish a TNI soldier accused of shooting four members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Peudawa, East Aceh.

Jakarta – The TNI pulled out another 2,163 soldiers from Aceh on Tuesday as the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) completed their second round of weapons decommissioning as part of the terms of the peace agreement that will end more than three decades of war.

Bill Tarrant, Lamteungoh – Putri's baby is big. At 4 kg, baby Angi is, in fact, huge by the natal standards of Indonesia – all the more remarkable since her mother has been living in a grim tsunami survivors' camp throughout her pregnancy.

Aguswandi, Banda Aceh – Ten months after the tsunami, and six months after the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) was established, the reconstruction of Aceh is still in trouble. I am not talking here about the pace of reconstruction.

Jakarta – The second phase of disarmament in Aceh has been extended as the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has not yet handed over the target number of weapons needed to be surrendered under the peace deal.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government is drafting a bill on the Aceh administration, which may dash the hopes of former Aceh rebels to contest posts in the regional administration under their own regional party.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Reconstruction projects in tsunami-devastated Aceh have been too slow over the past 10 months, leading to popular frustration, a top UN official said on Sunday.

Sudirman Nasir, Melbourne – It is crucial that Acehnese, men and women, be directly involved in all stages of rehabilitation programs in the province. Women's participation is also critical since it has become apparent that the civil war and the tsunami disaster have affected women more severely than men.