Joanne Collins, Jakarta – Seven navy vessels carrying some 3,000 marines sailed for troubled Aceh on Thursday, even as officials said there was time to talk with rebels and that the government would consult parliament on plans for the province.

Max Lane – Following a meeting of the Indonesian cabinet security committee on April 28, security minister Susilo Bambang Yudotomo announced that Jakarta may consider resuming "security operations" and abandon peace negotiations in Aceh.

Separatist rebels in Aceh have accused the Indonesian government of violating an already fragile peace agreement by strengthening its troops in the province.

Grave human rights abuses including the killing of children and other civilians are already being reported in Indonesia's Aceh province, Amnesty International says.

A major military offensive aimed at crushing the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) entered its second week today in the province, which has been placed under martial law.

Jakarta – Some 50 Acehnese leaders are attempting to salvage the fragile peace in the province as the government deadline for Acehnese rebels to accept special autonomy and disarm draws near.

Banda Aceh – Police said on Monday they found three bombs allegedly planted by separatist rebels on a road often used by police patrols, AFP reported.

Pelambang – People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) chairman Amien Rais has said that it would be "useless" to continue depending on the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC) in finding a peaceful solution to the prolonged armed conflict in Aceh.

Patrick McLoughlin, Stockholm – Sweden on Sunday rejected suggestions that the Stockholm-based leader of the separatist rebels for the Indonesian province of Aceh be expelled from the country to face trial in Indonesia.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The central government is investigating Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh for alleged misappropriation of general allocation funds for the conflict-torn province, a minister said on Friday.

Banda Aceh – An independent team should look into alledged violations of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) between the Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), according to Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

Jakarta – With the two-week deadline set for Aceh rebels to accept terms for peace talks coming closer, the Indonesian government is facing mounting pressure to save the truce it signed last year.

Jakarta – The Aceh peace facilitator, the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC), is now trying to set a new date and venue for peace talks between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), after the former pulled out of a planned Joint Council meeting in Geneva last week.

Two Indonesian soldiers and a boy aged six have been injured in Indonesia's Aceh province, hours after the government set terms for renewed peace talks with separatist rebels.

A grenade fired from a launcher exploded near two soldiers who were relaxing in the center of Bireuen town late Monday, an Aceh military spokesman, Dasli Averos, said Tuesday.

Which do we love more, peace or sovereignty? This question came up when Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono addressed the problem of Aceh last week. The chief security minister reportedly said: "Indonesians love peace, but Indonesians value their sovereignty and territorial integrity even more."

Jakarta – Indonesia said yesterday it was still willing to talk to Aceh separatists to try to save a fragile peace agreement, but demanded the rebels stop pushing for independence and start disarming.

The government gave the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) between one and two weeks to respond and held back from launching a full-scale military operation.

Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) threatened on Sunday to "teach colonial forces a lesson" if Jakarta resumed its military operation in Aceh, while the government meets to decide the next step in handling the restive province.

Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Vice President Hamzah Haz called on the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on Saturday to resume peace talks to save the peace agreement signed in December 2002.

Banda Aceh – The United States and other powers expressed "deep disappointment" on Friday at the scrapping of a crucial meeting aimed at saving the Aceh peace pact and put the blame on separatist rebels. The US, Japan and the World Bank said a successful Joint Council meeting would be necessary to save the December 9 peace agreement in the Indonesianprovince.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian government said it had lost all faith in the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) after the rebel group "disrespectfully" postponed an emergency meeting that was to salvage a peace pact between them.

War-weary Acehnese urged the Indonesian government and separatist rebels to get serious about saving their fragile peace pact, after a crucial meeting was called off at the last minute.

Nani Farida and Tiarma Siboro, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – The effort to bring peace back to Aceh faces another stiff test after the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel group threatened to boycott a Joint Council meeting if it went ahead in Tokyo as planned.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The trial of an Aceh activist in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh, on Monday turned tense when more than 150 supporters of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) staged a demonstration to protest the trial and the arrest of two other SIRA activists.

Nani Farida, Jakarta/Aceh – President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Sunday dismissed speculation that the Indonesian Military (TNI) would launch an immediate military operation in Aceh should peace talks fail to settle the Aceh problem.

The armed conflict between the Indonesian armed forces, TNI, and the Free Acheh Movement, GAM, is hotting up again and victims have started to fall also.

This condition was spearheaded by the torching of the office of the Joint Security Committee (JSC), the peacemaker of the conflict.

Five civilians have been killed in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, police and the military said.

The latest killings brought the death toll during an upsurge of violence over the past two weeks to 40, further straining a four-month old ceasefire agreement between the government and separatist rebels.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia's military and separatist rebels in Aceh have traded charges over reports of six killings in the province ahead of expected talks next week aimed at saving a floundering peace agreement.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Anti-Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) has expressed its concern over the possibility of the Indonesian government resorting to military force to resolve the Aceh conflict.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The trial of Muhammad Nazar, leader of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) who stands charged with sowing hatred against the government, began on Thursday at Banda Aceh District Court.

"The defendant incited the public to carry out actions that violated the law," chief prosecutor Muhammad Masril told the hearing.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has won critical support for "firm action on Aceh" that will likely include a military operation.

The go-ahead will be given only after a final attempt to salvage the four-month old peace pact is made, through a last round of talks with the rebel groups later this month.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has begun preparations to launch a military operation in Aceh, ending a peace pact that has been shredded in recent days by escalating violence.

Banda Aceh – Muhammad Nazar, 27, chairman of the Information Center for an Aceh Referendum (SIRA), went on trial here on Thursday for sedition, his second brush with the law in two years, AFP reported.

Banda Aceh – Marines killed three suspected separatist rebels in a gunfight at sea off East Aceh, Aceh military spokesman Firdaus Komarno said here on Tuesday.

In a final bid to salvage Aceh's shaky peace pact, separatist rebels have agreed to meet with the Indonesian Government in Geneva next week. The decision by the separatist Free Aceh Movement or GAM comes after Jakarta called for a final meeting to iron out growing differences over the six month old peace pact.

Tiarna Siboro, Jakarta – Hopes for salvaging the Aceh peace agreement rose again on Monday after both the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) agreed to sit down at the negotiating table to discuss various alleged violations of the accord signed last year.

Banda Aceh – Ginger farmer Sulaiman looks pensively across his fertile field in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, afraid fresh military operations could soon shatter the calm ushered in by a landmark peace pact.

Nani Farida and Arya Abhiseka, Banda Aceh – As fear was once again on the rise here, Acehnese leaders warned the government against launching a military operation in Aceh, saying that it had been proven in the past, that such an approach would certainly not resolve the conflict.

In the weeks to come, President Megawati Sukarnoputri will face a crucial decision whether she will surrender to pressure from the military hardliners trying to force her to take military action in putting down the separatism group the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

A 10-year-old girl has become the latest victim of violence in Aceh, where a four-month-old peace pact between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels is close to breaking down.

Indonesia's longest and bloodiest conflict is in imminent danger of breaking out again, just four months after a peace agreement was signed to international acclaim.

The government last Thursday told troops to be ready to go back to war in Aceh within five days if necessary, unless disputes over the pact can be settled at a meeting of a Joint Council – the final arbiter.

Ardimas Sasdi, Jakarta – The process of ending hostilities in troubled Aceh, which has been underway for the last five months, has entered a new, critical phase, which if not handled properly, could wreck the peace plan.

Tiarma Siboro and Nani Farida, Jakarta – Hope for a peaceful solution to the Aceh issue faded on Thursday when the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) declined to attend a Joint Council meeting to discuss violations of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.

Jakarta – Indonesia threatened yesterday to resume full combat operations in restive Aceh province as fresh clashes between troops and rebels killed four people, putting yet more strain on a shaky peace pact.

Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri is facing the apparent unravelling of the peace pact in Aceh province. Just four months after the Government and GAM, the separatist Free Aceh Movement signed a peace deal, international peace monitors have been withdrawn to the capital Banda Aceh after their offices were attacked.

Jakarta – Indonesia's army commander yesterday warned rebels in Aceh province to drop their independence bid or face a military crackdown in the latest challenge to a four-month peace deal.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia's peace pact in Aceh suffered major blows on Tuesday when nine people were reported killed and peace monitors separately ordered their teams across the province to withdraw to the local capital.

The fragile peace pact in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province has come under further strain, with the office of an international peace monitoring group attacked on the weekend, the second attack in little over a month. Some 300-people ransacked the Tripartite Monitoring Team office in East Aceh, destroying computer and other equipment before torching the empty building.

Banda Aceh – International peace monitors in Indonesia's Aceh province yesterday said they would withdraw from the south of the province after a mob of up to 900 people threatened to burn down another of the group's offices.

Jakarta (Agencies) – Hundreds of people besieged a peace monitoring office in the restive province of Aceh on Monday, one day after a separate facility was torched, in the latest blow to a landmark peace pact that is threatening to unravel.

Indonesia's cabinet met to discuss the increasingly fragile ceasefire in Aceh's bloody separatist war, with the armed forces chief suggesting it might decide to scrap the agreement.

A mob of some 1,000 people ransacked and torched a peace monitors' office in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, witnesses and a staff member said.