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.
One of the first regions in the archipelago to come into contact with Islam around the eight century, along with the first Islamic kingdom established in Perlak in 804, Aceh has since remained strongly linked to Islam.
A succession of kingdoms flourished there, peaking under the rule of Sultan Iskandar Thani in the mid-17th century. After Thani's demise in 1640, the fiercely independent sultanate of Aceh become a battle ground for influence between the British and the Dutch until the 1824 London Treaty left the area to the Dutch in return for a British free hand in India.
Recalcitrant Acehnese rulers and Muslim leaders led a resistance against the Dutch in the Great Aceh War from 1873 which ended only with the Japanese occupation in 1942 during World War II.
The Dutch colonial authorities, who dominated most of the archipelago by the turn of the 20th century, had managed to secure a only small area around Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh.
The people of Aceh were among the staunchest supporters of the Indonesian Republic when it was proclaimed in 1945, and during the years of freedom fighting that culminated with the official recognition of Indonesia's independence by the Dutch in 1949.
But after 1950 the Acehnese quickly became disillusioned with the Republic's leadership, which was generally perceived as corrupt, neglectful and "un-Islamic". Resentment also grew as the country's first president, Sukarno, merged Aceh with North Sumatra as a single province.
A rebellion erupted in September 1953 under Daud Beureu'eh and the Aceh revolt formally joined the broader Darul Islam movement for an Islamic Indonesia. Conciliatory policies by Jakarta and a willingness to compromise on the part of the Acehnese ended the revolt in the late 1950s.
In 1959, Aceh was granted the status of a special territory with considerable autonomy in religious and educational affairs – but once again it only turned out to be so on paper, and the Acehnese felt betrayed.
Resentment against Jakarta in Aceh has been fuelled by religious, economic, and political grievances. The region is more orthodox Muslim than the rest of the country and has sought to protect its strong religious character.
Disillusionment also developed over what they perceived as continued Javanese economic and political domination over their natural resources – huge reserves of fossil fuels and extensive, undeveloped forests.
In December 1976, the Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) movement, led by businessman and local nobleman Hasan di Tiro, proclaimed independence for Aceh. Jakarta responded by killing some of the movement's leaders while driving others, including Tiro, into exile in Sweden.
Armed opposition to the central government arose again in 1989, prompting a decade of violent anti-rebel military operations that lasted until August 1998 and saw at least 2,000 people killed and widespread gross human rights violations by soldiers.
The end of the repressive regime of Suharto in May 1998 allowed greater freedom throughout Indonesia, spawning more open demands for independence an a redress of past human right violations by the authorities and its military.
The change in government allowed human rights workers to uncover proof of the long-suspected rights abuses committed by the military, especially during the decade of military operation.
Jakarta's reply to the growing demand for a referendum on self determination for Aceh has been a categorical rejection. President Abdurrahman Wahid has instead offered broader autonomy.
Despite the lifting of the anti-rebel operations in 1998, violence has continued between rebels and soldiers and more than 400 people have been killed so far this year.