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.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military announced yesterday it has halted attacks on Aceh separatist rebels and a senior minister said the two sides in one of South-east Asia's longest wars are

[There are hopes of an end to hostilities in one of Southeast Asia's longest running wars.

[One of the details of the peace deal, which is yet to be negotiated, is the inclusion of international monitors.

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.

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 lo

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 Mov

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.

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.

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, wh

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 – 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 Frid

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen.

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 agreem

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).

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.

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

IV was going to press as news came in of the terrorist bombing in Bali which led to the deaths of almost 200 people.

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 P

[With the world's media spotlight heavily focused on the Bali bombings, the plight of Australian academic Lesley McCulloch has been largely forgotten.

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 Wednes

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, woundi

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 pea

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

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.

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

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 ar

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 dis

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 Movemen

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

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 M

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 loca

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 disor

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 Monda

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

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 Ten

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 o

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 – 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 Acehnes

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

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.

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

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 billio

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

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 ca