After the pain of losing East Timor, Indonesia is determined it will never lose Aceh, the resource rich western- most province in the archipelago.

Banda Aceh – At least six people, including two alleged members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), were killed in separate incidents in the restive province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam over the weekend, reports said.

Despite peace negotiations held in Geneva last month, the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) is continuing its offensive against the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the north of Sumatra. The current operations are part of a brutal civil war that has raged for 26 years and cost the lives of at least 12,000 people.

Bukit Meranti – In Aceh, the northernmost, natural gas-rich province of Indonesia, the guerrilla war by separatist guerrillas of the Free Aceh Movement has ebbed and flowed since 1976.

In its current phase, the Acehnese are on the defensive, pushed back from the urban centres now thick with patrolling soldiers and police.

Jane Perlezm Bukit Meranti – On a Friday, just before noon prayers in the simple wooden mosque, soldiers stormed into the village of Bukit Meranti, herded the people together and, according to two residents, marched them towards a neighbouring hamlet, torching houses as they went.

Five more people, including two separatist rebels, have been killed in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, the military and residents said.

Soldiers shot dead a suspected member of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in a gunfight at Indrajaya in Pidie district on Friday, said local military chief Colonel Supartodi.

Banda Aceh – Security uncertainty in the NanggroeAceh Darussalam province has taken its victim again with anotherprovincial councillor of the United Development Party (PPP), Nasri Zamzam, 43, was shot to death on Thursday evening, a report said on Friday.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Police in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, have detained five Acehnese people, allegedly members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), for having falsified identity cards and passports.

Banda Aceh – Two Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel, two alleged members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and three civilians died in armed conflict here on Wednesday and Thursday, a military officer said on Thursday.

Kupang – Police officers in East Nusa Tenggara province have arrested 20 of 25 alleged Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members trying to sneak into East Timor, Belu regent Marsel Bere said on Monday.

Two gunmen shot dead a district parliamentarian at his home in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh, police said.

Taslim Jalil was shot dead in Lhoknga near the provincial capital of Banda Aceh a few hours before dawn on Tuesday, Adjunct Senior Police Commissioner D. Achmad told journalists.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Local military intelligence has confirmed the presence of 25 members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group in Atambua near the border with East Timor, an officer claimed on Saturday.

Jakarta – Security forces shot and killed five separatist rebels, while one solider died as clashes persisted in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, the military said Sunday.

Rebels ambushed a security patrol in the Bireun district in northern Aceh, killing one soldier, local military spokesman Maj. Zaenal Mutaquin said.

Banda Aceh – As killings continue in restive Aceh province, tens of thousands of people in three subdistricts of Pidie regency are facing food shortages following a road block by separatist rebels.

Banda Aceh – Fierce armed clashes broke out in five different locations in Aceh on Tuesday, killing a Mobile Brigade (Brimob) policeman and a rebel of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM),an official said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, at least two civilians, one of them the wife of alocal politician in Aceh, were found dead with gunshot wounds.

At least four more people – including a suspected separatist rebel – have been killed in Indonesia's Aceh province, according to the military and residents.

Banda Aceh – Tension in war-ridden Aceh, especially East Aceh regency, was rising following the release by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) of female students allegedly abducted early this month.

At least seven people, including a woman and three separatist guerrillas were killed in the past four days in Indonesia's Aceh province.

The chief of a village in West Aceh was shot dead by a gunman Saturday, Aceh military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin told AFP.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh met House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung and People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais on Wednesday to lodge a complaint against what he called the unfair allocation of state revenue from the exploration of natural resources in the oil-rich province.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Police in Labuhan Batu, North Sumatra, arrested on Tuesday five Acehnese people who were trying to smuggle a huge cache of M-16 automatic rifle ammunition and 103 boxes of medicine from Jakarta to strife-torn Aceh.

Jakarta – Acehnese separatist rebels have warned civil servants to stay away from state facilities, which they plan to attack.

Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman Tengku Sofyan Dawod said from the group's foreign base in Norsborg, Sweden, that the prior warning was issued to avoid futile fatalities in the long-standing conflict.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Governor Abdullah Puteh held a closed-door meeting with activists of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) in Medan, North Sumatra on Thursday to familiarize them with the outcome of the peace talks in Geneva.

Banda Aceh – At least 153 refugees from Central and South Aceh were forced to leave the United Nations Resource Center (UNRC) compound in Banda Aceh, four days after they fled their homes due to increasing violence and security risks.

Aceh rebels said they had detained nine female students because of their "close relationship" with Indonesian troops.

Eight high school students and one university student were detained in the Idi Cut area of East Aceh on Thursday and Friday at the request of their parents, said Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman Ishak Daud.

Kautsar, chairperson of the Acehnese Peoples Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA), attended the second Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference in April to build support for the Acehnese people's struggle for self-determination. Kautsar spoke with Green Left Weekly's John Gauci.

Banda Aceh – A Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist leader in Aceh Besar, Ayah Sofyan, alias Zakaria Yahya, 37, was shot dead during a raid at a rebel base in Kuta Baro village on Saturday, officials and separatists confirmed. Five other people were also killed in the latest violence in Aceh during the weekend.

Gustavo Capdevila, Geneva – Delegates from the government of Indonesia and from the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have agreed to negotiate an and to hostilities and a process for electing democratic authorities for the northern Indonesian province of Aceh, an effort to be undertaken "with all speed".

Jakarta – Separatist violence continued in Aceh province on Sunday with at least five rebels killed in a gunfight with Indonesian Military (TNI) troops in Aceh Besar regency.

Pip Hinman, Sydney – The news that two Acehnese activists sought refuge in the Finnish embassy in Jakarta on April 10 didn't surprise Erwanto, an Acehnese activist currently visiting Australia. "Aceh is like hell on Earth", he said. "Already this year more than 700 people have been killed, almost all of them civilians.

Stockholm – East Timor's new president, former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao, on Monday urged Aceh separatists fighting for independence from Indonesia to follow East Timor's example and pursue a peaceful solution.

Banda Aceh – At least four more people including a soldier and a rebel have been killed in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, the military said Friday.

A soldier died Thursday in a 30-minute skirmish with Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels in Bireuen district, said Aceh military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin.

Two soldiers and three separatist rebels have been killed in Indonesia's Aceh province, the military and police said.

Banda Aceh – Seven more people have been found dead over the past three days in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, aid workers and residents said Friday.

Lela E. Madjiah, Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Military (TNI) seems to be succeeding in its efforts to crush the armed separatist movement in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, with reports of an increasing number of armed separatists being killed and arrested, as well as a rise in the number of separatists surrendering.

Jakarta – Two men claiming to be members of the Aceh separatist rebel movement entered the Finnish Embassy here yesterday and requested political asylum, saying they feared for their lives.

The pair met Ambassador Matti Pullinen before leaving the office voluntarily through a rear entrance.

Jakarta – A request for political asylum by two civilian members of the Aceh separatist movement has been turned down by both the Finnish government and the United Nations refugee agency, an Indonesian minister said Thursday.

"The asylum request has been rejected because they did not qualify for it," top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters.

Banda Aceh – At least six people, including two soldiers and two separatist guerrillas, have been killed in violence in Indonesia's Aceh province, military and rebel spokesmen said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Two members of the Infantry Battalion 141/Aneka Yudha Jayaperkasa under the Sriwijaya Military Command were killed in a rebel ambush in the restive Blang Mangat district ofNorth Aceh on Tuesday morning, according to news reports.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The government has hinted at pursuing a security-minded approach, instead of dialog, in dealing with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), despite the increasing death toll from military operations in the troubled province.

Jakarta – Three people died in internal fighting within the Indonesian security forces in Aceh on Saturday as rebel leaders said they would attend fresh rounds of peace talks with the Indonesian government later this month in Switzerland.

Geneva – Fresh peace talks between Indonesian government officials and Aceh separatists could resume in Geneva at the end of the month, a spokesman for the centre that mediates the discussions said on Thursday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia has introduced Islamic law in Aceh in an attempt to create the illusion that syariah is the cure for all of the province's political problems.

Acehnese observers point out that the demand for syariah came not from the Acehnese community, but originated in Jakarta during the Habibie government.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) will soon dispatch at least 1,850 replacement troops to the rebellious Aceh province, Deputy Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Kiki Syahnakrie said on Saturday.

The Indonesian military claimed to have killed 12 suspected separatist rebels in the restive province of Aceh over the weekend.

Four suspected separatist rebels and a public transport driver have been killed over the past three days in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, the military and residents said.

A local rebel leader identified as Usman bin Rahmad was killed in a gunfight with soldiers at Simpang Nalep in Bireun district on Thursday, Aceh military spokesman Major Zenal Muttaqin said.

Jakarta – An international research group says there is a "slim chance" for peace in the bloody 25-year separatist war in Indonesia's Aceh, but only with sustained international pressure on both sides.

Max Lane – Almost every day, details of the murder of Acehnese civilians by Indonesian military forces are reported by democratic and human rights organisations and international news agencies. At least 300 killings have been reported since January. More than 10,000 Acehnese have been killed in the last two decades.

Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province are demanding a ransom for three kidnapped oil company workers, the military said Wednesday.

The new leader of separatist rebels in Aceh called for foreign human rights activists to visit the province and investigate what he called past and present brutality by Indonesian troops.

Muzakir Manaf, military leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), said Monday foreign investigators must come to Aceh to witness "forced confiscation, molestation and arson" by soldiers.

Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province claimed Sunday to have shot dead 18 soldiers over the past three days, a claim denied by the security forces who said they had killed at least five rebels.