The Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) promises to end its offensive against separatist rebels in Aceh province but warns of harsh reprisals if a planned peace agreement fails.

[There are hopes of an end to hostilities in one of Southeast Asia's longest running wars. The Indonesian government and international mediators say they will sign a deal with separatist rebels in the province of Aceh on December 9, after the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

[One of the details of the peace deal, which is yet to be negotiated, is the inclusion of international monitors. It's an idea which has never before been accepted by the Indonesian Government. Outside monitors are a crucial ingredient because neither side trusts the other.]

Presenter/Interviewer: Graeme Dobell, Canberra

Richel Langit, Jakarta – The news that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will soon sign a peace agreement with the Indonesian government came as a pleasant surprise to Indonesians who had long wanted to see the bloody conflict there to come to an end.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia and separatist rebels in Aceh province are expected to sign a landmark peace pact early next month, international mediators said on Tuesday.

Jakarta – Residents reported gun and mortarfire Sunday as the armed forces showed no signs of meeting a unilateral separatist deadline to pull back from their siege of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)positions AFP reported.

Banda Aceh – International mediators yesterday unveiled a peace plan that they hope will end 26 years of fighting between separatists and government troops in Indonesia's Aceh province.

The plan offers more autonomy for the province's four million people and elections for a provincial legislature and administration.

Jakarta – More than 1,000 Indonesian troops have tightened their siege of a separatist rebel group in Aceh and are ready to attack if necessary, AFP reported.

Troops have moved closer to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels but are delaying any attack for fear of hurting civilians who are with the rebels, saidLieutenant Colonel Firdaus Komarno.

There are concerns two foreign women being held in Aceh will be used by Indonesian authorities to set an example to foreigners wanting to meddle in Indonesia's politics.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Nani Farida, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Fear of the worst bloodshed is looming in Aceh as the Indonesian Military (TNI) continue their siege on separatist rebels, who refused to budge and rejected calls for their surrender on Monday.

Stephen Khan – A Scottish woman who has been under arrest in Indonesia since September for allegedly misusing a tourist visa faces being held for a further 20 days without charge.

Jakarta – Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil rejected here on Friday the idea of including foreign observers in a team that would monitor the implementation of a possible peace agreement between the government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Aceh.

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said here on Friday the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has no authority whatsoever to declare a cease-fire as it is an outlawed group that is not entitled to possess weapons.

Jakarta – Police blockaded the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh to prevent 5,000 people from attending a mass prayer held by the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) on Friday, El Shinta radio station reported.

The Indonesian military is reported to be engaged in its biggest operation for five months as light tanks and armored personnel carriers pounded a base of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Troops were using light tanks and armored personnel carriers against a suspected concentration of GAM rebels in an area 35 kilometers south of the industrial township of Lhokseumawe.

Iggy Kim – On October 24, a debate was held in Britain's House of Commons over the Foreign Office's handling of the detention of Lesley McCulloch in Indonesia. The debate was initiated by Alan Reid, the Scottish Liberal Democrats member for Argyll and Bute, where McCulloch's parents live. McCulloch is a British citizen and resident of Australia.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The mystery behind the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)'s decision to delay signing a peace agreement with the government was partly explained by a respected Acehnese Muslim leader over the weekend.

IV was going to press as news came in of the terrorist bombing in Bali which led to the deaths of almost 200 people. While the Indonesian government has been accused of laxity in its treatment of Islamic militants, it has been ferocious in its repression of genuine movements for self-determination like those in the province of Aceh.

A long-awaited round of peace talks between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels from Aceh province will get underway on November 2-5 in Switzerland, Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh said here.

[With the world's media spotlight heavily focused on the Bali bombings, the plight of Australian academic Lesley McCulloch has been largely forgotten. For the past seven weeks, the British-born Australian resident has been held in a police station in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Four people, including a woman, are the latest casualties of decades-long violence between government and separatist rebel forces in Aceh province, residents said on Wednesday.

They told journalists that two men, including an 18-year-old high school student, were found dead in a oil palm plantation in Paya Rambong, East Aceh, on Tuesday.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Only a couple of days before the peace talks resume between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), an explosion rocked Lhokseumawe on Tuesday, wounding three people, including servicemen.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The planned dialog between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group has been postponed, but Jakarta expects a new peace deal could be approved before the Ramadhan fasting month begins next week.

Nani Farida, Langsa, East Aceh – The Human Rights Forum (PB HAM) deplored on Monday the continued violence against civilians, especially teachers, in war-ravaged Aceh on the eve of the Indonesia-Free Aceh Movement (GAM) peace talks scheduled for October 31, 2002.

Jakarta – The Aceh provincial administration is to introduce caning as punishment in the upcoming fasting month Ramadhan for Muslims who do not carry out their religious obligations.

Aceh Ulema Consultative Assembly (MPU) chairman Muslim Ibrahim said on Saturday that caning would be meted out on Muslims in Aceh who took lunch during the fasting month.

Nani Farida and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – Nearly 2,000 Acehnese gathered and prayed on Sunday for peace, ahead of the next set of talks between the government and the Aceh Separatist Movement (GAM).

Jakarta – Indonesian troops have shot dead six suspected rebels in Aceh a day after the government said it was ready to sign a truce with the province's separatist movement.

Apriadi Gunawan and Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Medan/Pekanbaru – A joint police-military team from Asahan, North Sumatra, killed two suspected rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and arrested four others in the waters off Asahan on Friday.

Banda Aceh – Some ten unidentified gunmen shot dead a middle-aged couple identified as Hasan Basri, 50, and his wife Rosmawati, 45, at their home in the Idi Rayeuk area of East Aceh district on Tuesday, the provincial military spokesman Major Zaenal Mutaqin confirmed here on Thursday.

Nani Farida, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Governor Abdullah Puteh said on Wednesday that the recommencement of a dialog between the government and the Free Aceh Movement would take place in Geneva on October 31 or November 1, with the Henry Dunant Center (HDC) mediating the peace talks.

Five more people including two soldiers and a separatist rebel have been killed in the Indonesian province of Aceh, the military and residents said.

Prosecutors are meanwhile studying police reports on two foreign women who have been detained in Aceh since September 11 to decide whether to charge them with visa violations, said Zainal Said of the Aceh prosecutor's office.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – A visiting director of the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC), a mediator of peace talks between the Indonesian government and the secessionist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), criticized the government's decision to set a deadline for a dialog with the movement.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Volunteers with the Indonesian Red Cross in Aceh have evacuated six casualties bearing gunshot wounds, including one state official, from four different locations in the strife-torn province, graphic evidence that violence is still rampant.

Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta – Two Acehnese who participated in a hunger strike for three days at the provincial legislature here were rushed to the hospital on Tuesday with digestive disorders.

Nani Farida and Kurniawan Hari, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – Acehnese figures welcomed on Monday a proposal to allow the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to participate in elections, saying it would bolster efforts for a peaceful and fair solution to problems in the province.

Medan – Dozens of Acehnese refugees living in temporary shelters in Medan, Deli Serdang, and Langkat, launched a hunger strike in front of the North Sumatra Legislative Council on Monday to demand the disbursement of Rp 100.5 billion in government funds.

Kanis Dursin, Tamiang, East Aceh – It was only 7 a.m., but hundreds of students had already gathered on the Tamiang Islamic University campus, a two-hectare compound from where King Tengku Arifin ruled in the 19th century.

Banda Aceh – The deputy chairman of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P) Aceh chapter was killed after separatist rebels sprayed his car with bullets, military officials said.

Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh Legal Aid Institute has expressed regret over a statement made by Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen Endriartono Sutarto, in which he accused an Acehnese of being behind the recent clash between the army and police in Binjai, North Sumatra.

Banda Aceh – Two policemen and a soldier have been killed by separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province, police have confirmed here on Friday.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian police said on Friday they shot and killed a separatist commander in restive Aceh province but denied rebel allegations he'd been tortured to death.

Banda Aceh – A territorial commander of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), identified as Abu Arafah, alias Ibrahim, 33, was shot dead at an isolated village in Aceh province, Aceh Police spokesman Taufik Sutiyono said here on Thursday.

The authorities in Indonesia's Aceh province have ruled out pursuing espionage charges against a Scottish woman detained for the past month, the prosecutor handling their case said.

"According to the chief, if we focus on spying it will be difficult to prove in court later," prosecutor Zainal Said told AFP Thursday.

Banda Aceh – Two soldiers and one teacher were killed in the latest round of violence in Aceh, provincial military spokesman Maj. Zaenal Mutaqin said here on Tuesday.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Aceh police detectives are questioning 20 colleagues from the elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob) for their alleged role in an arson attack on 80 shophouses in Keude Seuneddon, North Aceh, some 57 kilometers east of Lhokseumawe, last month.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Thousands of the have-nots staged a peaceful rally in front of the Aceh provincial legislature building on Monday, demanding the administration disburse billions of rupiah of public funds to alleviate poverty in the resources-rich province.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The inclusion of foreigners in the planned monitoring commission to ensure peace in the war-torn province of Aceh will be discussed in the coming peace talks between the government and Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

At least three people, including a woman and her grandson, were killed in the latest violence in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, witnesses and the military said.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – New lawyers representing two foreigners suspected of violating immigration law in war-torn Aceh called on the local police and the prosecutor's office to be cautious in charging their clients.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Maps showing the location of military forces in Indonesia's Aceh province in the possession of a former University of Tasmania lecturer and her American colleague prove the women are guilty of espionage, the prosecutor's office says.