Wellington – New Zealand said on Thursday it will ask Indonesia to investigate claims that its military officers have been accepting bribes to place wealthy people on refugee flights ou

Jakarta – Indonesia's president on Thursday offered concessions to separatist rebels in tsunami-devastated Aceh province if they agree to a cease-fire in upcoming peace talks.

Nani Afrida and Dedy Ardiansyah, Banda Aceh/Meulaboh – As the sun rose over the devastated city of Banda Aceh on Wednesday morning, Maizul, a 40-year-old school teacher, was standing in

Banda Aceh – Indonesia has buried more than 100,000 tsunami victims, mostly in mass graves, a month after the disaster, the government said on Thursday.

Alan Sipress, Lhoknga – Ali, a scruffy Acehnese truck driver turned tsunami refugee, said he wasn't sure who provided him with a sack of rice, bottled water, a blanket and a few other m

Tony Hotland and Ruslan Sangadji, Banda Aceh – The Acehnese have long dreamed of peace and prosperity in their homeland, which has seen decades of conflict and, at the end of last year,

An Indonesian ministerial team departs for Finland today to meet Free Aceh Movement or GAM's leadership-in-exile, but though both sides expressed optimism, there is scant hope the talks

Tiarma Siboro and Rendi A.

Many seats were left empty in badly damaged schools across Indonesia's Aceh province as children began lessons for the first time since the tsunami struck one month ago, killing thousan

Santi Soekanto, Aceh – Nina recounted her story to me in the Lamsujen refugee camp in Lhoong subdistrict, Aceh Besar, on January 3. This is what she said: "Assalam mualai'kum.

Sonny Inbaraj, Bangkok – East Timor's Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo is appealing for peace to be given a chance in tsunami-hit Aceh as an Indonesian top-level team meets wit

Meulaboh – The two-faced attitude of United States troops in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami has been revealed.

M.

Rebels fighting for the independence of Aceh province are willing to engage in peace talks with Indonesia but say the country is not serious about negotiations, a senior guerrilla said

Jakarta – The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that health conditions in the disaster area of Aceh were improving, and that no major epidemics were likely, but all parties

Jakarta – International financial institutions paid about $35 million in the late 1980s to build the highway that meanders from Jakarta's international airport to the city, crossing pic

Jakarta – Almost half a million Acehnese may suffer depression, anxiety and sleep disorders due to last month's tsunami disaster, but only five psychiatrists are on hand to treat them,

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta – The government said on Monday it would use some unconventional methods to cope with post-tsunami legal issues related to citizen documentation as well as for

Barbara Demick, Banda Aceh – From behind a rickety wooden crate on which he has spread out cans of Coca-Cola and cigarettes, Mohammed Yunus warily eyes the bare legs of a blond woman in

Jakarta – An American journalist will be deported from Indonesia after immigration officers said he entered the country illegally, despite granting him a visa when he arrived three week

Banda Aceh – Villagers cross a river on a makeshift ferry as Indonesian soldiers work to reconstruct a bridge which was swept away by last month's tsunami in Loknga, near Banda Aceh.

Jay Solomon and Andrew Higgins, Banda Aceh – Government authorities here said they are investigating claims by an Indonesian anticorruption watchdog that the number of refugees in some

Matthew Moore, Banda Aceh – More than three weeks after the tsunami that wiped out much of Aceh's west coast, aid was continuing to arrive in a chaotic manner.

Jakarta – The government said on Sunday that the emergency situation in tsunami-ravaged Aceh is now nearly over, and that foreign troops should gradually be replaced by civilians.

The military chief in Indonesia's Aceh province described foreigners providing relief aid for tsunami survivors in the region as insolent for refusing to follow directives given by loca

The Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, or GAM) was founded on 4 December 1976 by Hasan di Tiro – a descendant of the last sultan of Aceh.

Indonesia ramped up its peace bid for tsunami-hit Aceh, saying it would consider anything except independence in talks with separatist rebels, while trying to reassure the world that re

Deborah Cameron, Jakarta – The tears pool in her deep, wise eyes.

The Indonesian government will consider anything except independence for tsunami-hit Aceh province as it tries to broker a peace with separatist rebels, a senior minister says.

Rebels in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province accused the government of abandoning an informal cease-fire after the military said it had killed scores of suspected guerrillas t

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – State Intelligence Agency (BIN) head Syamsir Siregar has called on the government to be alert to possible spying from foreign forces deployed in tsunami-devast

Kobe, Japan – Political constraints in Indonesia are discouraging international non-governmental organizations from assisting victims of Asia's tsunamis, activists at a global conferenc

Indonesia's army and the Free Aceh separatist movement, GAM, have agreed to an unconditional ceasefire in the province so devasted by the tsunami.

Banda Aceh – A massive world outpouring of aid to tsunami-stricken Aceh had relief agencies rushing to reach survivors, but many are now questioning if the region is "over-aided".

The United States yesterday called for a political solution of the conflict in the Indonesian province of Aceh, with a top Pentagon official arguing that Indonesia's military should be

Manuela Badawy, New York – A US Muslim group on Thursday accused evangelist Jerry Falwell of using money donated for tsunami relief to convert people in South Asia to Christianity and c

Astrid Felicia Lim, Jakarta - National Intelligence Agencey (BIN) chief Syamsir Siregar says that foreigners in Aceh definitely have specific interests other than the humanitarian missi

Fedhly Averouss Bey, Jakarta - The Aceh Working Group (AWG) opposes the plan to form the Special Authority Agency for Aceh because it has the potential to turn the Acehnese people into

Suliyanti, Jakarta - People's Representative Assembly Commission I for Defense and Foreign Affairs is urging the military (TNI) to remain resolute and on guard against the armed separat

Ellen Nakashima, Aceh Besar – A rebel commander, Muharram Idris, said he knew the risk when he sent his men down from the mountains on a rescue mission after the tsunami crashed ashore.

The United Nations said the destruction in Indonesia's Aceh province, the worst-hit area in the December 26 Asian tsunami, is "truly staggering" after relief teams reported back to the

Max Lane – On December 26, one of the worst earthquakes in a century sent a massive tsunami travelling at 800 kilometres per hour out from an epicentre off the island of Sumatra.

Philip Cornford in Banda Aceh, Cynthia Banham and agencies – The infamous former pro-Indonesian militia commander in East Timor, Eurico Guterres, yesterday denied he had visited Banda A

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Accelerating hostilities in the tsunami-devastated Indonesian province of Aceh have killed as many as 110 people since the Boxing Day disaster, separatist rebels

Jakarta – Indonesia's armed forces have allowed unprecedented access to Aceh province since it was devastated by last month's tsunami, but relations with the thousands of foreigners inv

Ian Fisher, Banda Aceh – Business is coming back to Banda Aceh, a city hit hard by the tsunami, and not all of it fits into neat moral boxes.

[Interview with US Deputy Secretary of State Paul Wolfowitz. Sections not directly related to South-East Asia and Aceh have been edited out - JB.]

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Dozens of members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) moved swiftly out of the pickup trucks as they arrived at the mosque in Ajun residential area

Marianne Kearney – A military-backed militia group responsible for widespread killing and looting when Indonesia pulled out of East Timor has established a base in tsunami-devastated Ac

John Mcbeth – Nationalism, often tinged with conspiracy theories and a measure of xenophobia, is never far from the surface in Indonesia.