Associated Press in Banda Aceh – A day after President Megawati Sukarnoputri led a peace mission to troubled Aceh province, rebels vowed to maintain their secessionist war and activists described the visit as a failure.

"Our struggle will continue," rebel spokesman Teungku Agam Kateraja said. "Soldiers on patrol in rebel areas will be attacked."

During a five-hour visit to the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, on Saturday, Ms Megawati apologised for mistakes by previous governments during the 26-year separatist war that has left thousands dead, including more than 1,200 this year.

Ms Megawati called for an end to the fighting and urged the staunchly Islamic Acehnese to accept new laws granting them greater autonomy, including a larger share of revenue from the province's vast natural resources and the right to practise Muslim sharia law.

Her speech in front of the town's main mosque left many in the crowd of about 2,000 – at least half of whom were schoolchildren and government employees – unimpressed. Independence rallies held there in the past have drawn tens of thousands of people.

Student leader Muhammad Nazar – serving a 10-month prison sentence for subversion – said Ms Megawati's trip would not dampen calls for independence. "The trip will have little effect because Megawati is not addressing the real problem. Most people will see it like that," he said. "The only way to find a peaceful solution is through an independence referendum."

Nazar was arrested on November 11 after the student group he heads held a rally calling for a plebiscite – similar to the UN-sponsored one in East Timor in 1999 that saw it secede from Indonesia.

Ms Megawati's trip was her first to Aceh since she became president on July 23. It came amid rising violence and demands by military leaders and nationalist politicians to launch a full-scale offensive against the rebels. Security was tight for the visit. Snipers and helicopters were deployed along with thousands of troops to deter rebel attacks. Indonesian Red Cross workers found an unidentified corpse in a river near the capital on Saturday.

Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said bringing peace to Aceh would take time. "We cannot expect too many things from a one-day visit," he said on Saturday before leaving the province. "It is a continuing process."

Rebel spokesman Kateraja said Aceh's four million people no longer believed promises from Jakarta. He accused the Government of breaking a ceasefire agreed to by the administration of recently deposed president Abdurrahman Wahid. The deal broke down in February and Mr Wahid agreed to a limited military operation against the rebels. Many people now say violence is worse now than it was during the dictatorship of president Suharto, who used the security forces to crush dissent.

Support for succession in the province is fuelled by alleged human rights abuses by the security forces, who have been accused of running death squads and engaging in rape and torture.

North Aceh Governor Tarmizi Karim acknowledged that in "some cases" military action in his district had been excessive. "If we can't win the hearts of the people then our message is difficult to get across," he said.