Banda Aceh – Residents in Indonesia's troubled Aceh Province began a strike Wednesday, refusing to conduct any activities or to hoist the red-and-white Indonesian national flag to mark Independence Day on August 17.

Washington – Human rights groups on Tuesday voiced deep concern over the fate of a New York-based activist missing in Indonesia's Aceh province, and demanded more action from US officials on his case.

Jakarta – Over 100 civilians in Indonesia's East Aceh regency were assaulted by Indonesian police and soldiers who went on a rampage of shooting and arson in retaliation for the death of a fellow soldier, a local daily Serambi Indonesia reported yesterday.

Banda Aceh – A large number of residents were injured after a gang of soldiers and police officers reportedly ran amok on Sunday, destroying shops and markets in the Idi Rayeuek district of East Aceh on Sunday. Unconfirmed reports said three civilians were killed in the melee.

Nuruddin Lazuardi/Fitri & Lyndal Meehan, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, or Kontras, has demanded the Attorney General's office investigate the disappearance of Jafar Siddiq Hamzah, the head of the International Forum for Aceh (IFA).

Banda Aceh – A separatist leader in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province has vowed to minimize the group's armed struggle and adopt more diplomatic means to achieve independence.

Abdullah Syafiie, charismatic army chief of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), said a truce signed in May by the separatists and the Indonesian government constituted a partial victory for the rebels.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid has agreed to extend the cease-fire with separatist rebels in Aceh province for three more months, a Cabinet minister said Wednesday.

Representatives of the government and the Free Aceh Movement have been holding talks in Switzerland about extending the June 2 truce that was due to expire in September.

Jakarta – The United States on Wednesday expressed "deep concern" over the sudden disappearance of a US-based human rights activist in the Indonesian city of Medan last Saturday.

Geneva – Representatives of the Indonesian government and separatist rebels in the Aceh province met yesterday to assess the success of the ongoing three-month truce.

President Abdurrahman Wahid has proposed prolonging the unprecedented truce, which came into effect on June 2 after negotiations between the two sides in Geneva.

Ibnu Matnoor, Banda Aceh – He is only nine years old and he does not want to be a beggar. Yet there is no other way to put food on his family's table.

"I have to beg in order to buy rice for my mother and brother," said Muhammad Ridha at a rice store in Matang Geulumpung Dua, Bireuen regency, in strife-torn Aceh last week.

Banda Aceh – Authorities in the strongly Muslim Indonesian province of Aceh have officially agreed to move towards the imposition of the Islamic Syariah law there, a local MP said Saturday.

Banda Aceh – The government has allocated Rp 1.4 trillion (US$155 million) to finance the implementation of the Joint Understanding on Humanitarian Pause in Aceh, Acting Governor Ramli Ridwan said on Monday. "The fund would be disbursed in August," Ramli said.

Banda Aceh – Almost all of the approximately 20,000 refugees who sought shelter at Point-A area of the Exxon-Oil airport compound in Tanah Luas district of North Aceh were gone on Wednesday afternoon. Witnesses said security forces cajoled refugees to return by surrounding the area and firing warning shots into the air the night before.

Banda Aceh – Three Acehenese civilians died in military custody after being shot and then arrested by Indonesian security forces, witnesses and hospital staff said Thursday. The bodies were taken to a local hosptial early on Thursday, a hospital employee said.

Norsborg, Sweden – The exiled leader of the pro-independence Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Hasan Muhammad di Tiro, said Wednesday he is willing to negotiate an extension of a three-month cease-fire accord in the troubled Indonesian province expiring September 2.

Jakarta – Three Indonesian policemen and a separatist rebel were killed when gunmen attacked a police truck in the restive province of Aceh, reports said Monday.

Santi Soekanto – A truly democratic negotiation for solutions in Aceh should include different elements including women groups, says Jacqueline Aquino Siapno from the Philippines.

Jakarta – Huge convoys of cars and motorcycles criss-crossed the capital of Indonesia's restive Aceh province yesterday in a mass protest demanding the dissolution of district and provincial parliaments, reports said.

D. Sangga Buana/ Swastika, Jakarta – Local police officers in Aceh believe they have discovered a mass grave site located in Simpang Kramat, Kutamakmur sub district, North Aceh. Two skeletons were unearthed in one of spots yesterday and today the police are searching for another 30 burial sites nearby.

Banda Aceh – A caretaker governor of the strife-torn Aceh province was installed Wednesday amid student protests against the Indonesian government. The outgoing governor, Mr Syamsuddin Mahmud, was replaced by Mr Ramli Ridwan, a senior official at the Home Affairs Ministry.

A Andri/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – The chairman of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA), Muhammad Nazar, stated that, based on the results of some 30,000 surveys distributed throughout the province, 97% of Acehnese support a referendum.

Iwan Triono/FW & LM, Jakarta – 350 activists from the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) demonstrated at the House of Representatives building, Central Jakarta, Wednesday demanding that a referendum be held immediately in the troubled province of Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Hundreds of protesters yesterday occupied Parliament in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, demanding that the local legislature be dissolved.

Some 500 protesters charged that provincial and district legislators had only served the central government's interests and had failed to contribute to solving conflict in the plagued province.

Banda Aceh – The governor of Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province has been dismissed by President Abdurrahman Wahid, an official said here yesterday as students took to the streets to protest the sacking.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – Fighting is officially over in Aceh province, but a month after a ceasefire accord it is hard to tell the difference. Fighting has continued unabated since the deal took effect on June 2, with at least two people dead and many more wounded or made refugees.

Banda Aceh – Rebels shot and wounded a Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officer in a gunfight between security forces and Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the third attack since a cease-fire was declared eight days ago, an official said Friday.

Marianne Kearney, Banda Aceh – Aceh's landmark ceasefire is in danger of faltering as the two sides argue about how to monitor whether each side – the Indonesian army and the separatist rebels – keep to the agreement which went into effect last Friday.

A leader of a breakaway faction of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) was killed in Malaysia just hours before a "humanitarian pause" in Aceh was to take affect. Don Zulfahri, secretary general of the GAM Government Council (GAM MP), was shot twice by an unidentified gunman in a restaurant in Malaysia late on June 1.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – Aceh refused to abandon its hopes for peace yesterday as a much-desired truce finally took effect under the shadow of an assassination in Malaysia.

Jakarta – The exiled leader of an Aceh independence faction gunned down in Kuala Lumpur was killed by the Indonesian military, the main separatist movement in Aceh claimed on Friday.

"I'm sure he was murdered by TNI [Indonesian military] intelligence agents in Kuala Lumpur," Ismail Sahputra, spokesman for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), told AFP by phone.

James Balowski – On May 17, 24 Indonesian soldiers and one civilian were sentenced to between eight and a half and 10 years' jail for the murder of Islamic teacher Teungku Bantaqiahand and 56 members of an Islamic boarding school in western Aceh in July 1999.

Jakarta – Mobil Oil Indonesia has temporarily suspended production from a satellite of its eastern Aceh gas field in the wake of last week's hostage taking incident, the company's spokesman said Wednesday.

"We are temporarily suspending our satellite operation in Pase field pending further review," Mobil's communications advisor in Jakarta, Julia Tumengkol, told AFP.

Banda Aceh – Security forces in the strife-torn province of Aceh broke ranks Thursday, fighting between police and members of the military claimed the lives of at least three police officers, witnesses said. The deaths put into further jeopardy the Indonesian province's impending cease-fire.

James Balowski – On May 12, the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed a three-month "peace accord" at a secret location in Geneva. A government statement said the cease-fire would come into effect on June 2 and would be reviewed regularly.

Chris McCall and Agencies – Activists in Aceh yesterday urged Jakarta to set up a full human rights inquiry into abuses in the province if it wants a de facto ceasefire with separatist rebels to work.

Jakarta – Two international human rights bodies yesterday dismissed as "seriously flawed" the just-concluded trial of 24 Indonesian soldiers and a civilian for a massacre in Aceh province, saying it had missed the real culprits in the slaughter.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – People in Aceh have reacted coldly to the jailing of 24 soldiers and their civilian informant over the massacre of 57 people at a school last July, saying it is just window dressing.

Chris McCall – Top Indonesian human rights activists heaped scorn on yesterday's convictions in Aceh, saying they set a bad precedent for future human rights trials over a host of unsettled cases from the past.

Chris McCall, Sigli – An Indonesian soldier cannot expect an easy life in troubled Aceh at the best of times, but most assume their own colleagues will not betray them. That was a mistake for former first sergeant Maju Ali Siagian.

Washington – US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Monday hailed last week's truce agreement between Indonesia separatist rebels from its northern oil-rich province of Aceh, pledging US humanitarian aid to support the pact.

Reuters in Geneva – Jakarta yesterday signed an historic agreement with the Free Aceh rebels to halt fighting in the troubled province. The deal for a three-month "humanitarian pause" was signed in Geneva by Indonesian Ambassador Hassan Wirajuda and the rebels' health minister, Zaini Abdullah.

Geneva – The Indonesian government and Aceh separatist rebels yesterday signed a ground-breaking three-month ceasefire agreement at a secret location in Geneva aimed at ending more than two decades of violence in the province.

A government statement said the ceasefire, signed under a strict news blackout, would come into effect on June 2 and would be reviewed regularly.

Chris McCall – Aceh's prayers for peace have not been answered despite a landmark deal to halt the violence that has ravaged the Indonesian province.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Even as Indonesia's landmark ceasefire accord with separatist Acehnese rebels was being hailed yesterday, analysts warned that the pact could be easily sabotaged by rogue elements who do not want to see an end to the 24-year conflict.

Geneva – Separatists from Indonesia's northern Aceh province remain committed to their goal of independence, according to a written statement released hours after agreeing a three-month ceasefire with Jakarta here Friday.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM)'s commitments to achieve its solemn goal remains intact until Aceh gains its independence", said the GAM's statement.

Jakarta – Aceh, at the westernmost tip of the Indonesian archipelago, has remained through the ages a staunch Muslim stronghold which has defied all outside attempts at domination.

Agencies in Banda Aceh – For the first time in Indonesia's landmark human rights trial in Aceh, soldiers yesterday admitted they had executed civilians but said they were innocent of murder because they were only following their commander's orders.

Banda Aceh – One of the two military commanders in the restive Indonesian province of Aceh admitted yesterday to having ordered his troops to catch a traditional leader and his followers "dead or alive".

Jakarta – Indonesian troops will remain in Aceh after the government signs a truce with separatist rebels next week and there will be no referendum on self-rule for the troubled province, Foreign Affairs Minister Alwi Shihab said Friday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – A human-rights group alleges that soldiers raped and beat villagers in north Aceh last month while they were conducting raids in search of separatist Free Aceh rebels.

Mr Maimul Fidar, the chairman of a non-government investigation team, said 20 non-local troops had conducted an early morning raid on March 7.