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 prom

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Despite the Aug.

John Aglionby, Nusa – The community noticeboard in Nusa is conspicuously underemployed.

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 governmen

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

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

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),

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 (

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

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 provi

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 politic

Jakarta – Indonesian Military chief Gen.

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 governmen

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Khairil Anwar acknowledged he felt depressed.

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.

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 mad

John Aglionby, Nusa – The community notice board in Nusa is conspicuously underemployed.

[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 i

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

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 – 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 withou

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Despite considerable progress, the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) for Aceh and Nias has been facing numerous technical and administrative o

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

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 approache

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

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 acc

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 Move

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.

Simon Montlake, Leupung – Most days Farid Maulidi spends patching up a makeshift highway – filling in holes, repairing culverts, shoveling sand, directing traffic.

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.

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 Ac

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

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 tro

Bill Tarrant, Lamteungoh – Putri's baby is big.

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

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 t

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 und

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Several Aceh separatists were shot as GAM began a second round of weapons decommissioning on Friday as part of a peace deal to end three decades of fighting in

Banda Aceh – A rebel in Indonesia's Aceh province has been shot and wounded by a soldier during a disarmament ceremony aimed at ending decades of violence in the tsunami-hit conflict zo