Jakarta – Students in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province have launched a campaign for a referendum on self-determination for the troubled territory, residents and a report said Monday.

The State Antara news agency said hundreds of banners and placards had been put up at markets and on roadsides along the east coast of the province, home to about four million people.

Some 300 people, part of a student group which has since mid-February campaigned in sub-district areas, have been giving speeches and putting up the "referendum" signs, a student leader said.

"We ask Indonesia to understand the problem of Aceh because the problem ... is linked to its unresolved past," Kautsar, from the Student Solidarity for the People, told AFP from the province's capital of Banda Aceh.

To resolve the problem, he added, "referendum is one of the options, to get the people to choose whether they want to be free or join with Indonesia."

"We want peaceful referendum and not a bloody referendum," read one of the group's banners in a North Aceh village, Antara said.

North Aceh military commander Colonel Jhoni Wahab said: "The students' campaign to support reform has become a new conflict in dealing with security issues in Aceh." Kautsar said troops were pulling down the signs.

The Indonesian parliament, in a special session last year, revoked a law allowing any province to hold a referendum.

The campaign launch followed a student congress in Banda Aceh attended by some 300 people concerned over the province's status.