Jakarta – Indonesia's security minister has warned that a recent peace deal between the government and rebels in Aceh province could break down because of repeated violations by the guerillas.

"Developments in the field show that the Free Aceh Movement is continuously violating the peace deal at a worrying level," Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said late on Tuesday. The minister's comments come amid rising criticism of the deal by military commanders, who accuse the rebels of using the pause in hostilities to stockpile weapons.

Violence in the province has dropped dramatically since the accord was signed on December 9 in Geneva, but both sides regularly accuse each other of violating the peace deal.

Several key issues, including rebel disarmament and the relocation of military troops to defensive positions, have yet to be resolved.

"Without intervention and total correction, then the peace agreement will not be a success," Mr Susilo said without elaborating.

He said the government would soon meet the rebels and officials from the Henri Dunant Centre, the Geneva-based conflict resolution group that is monitoring the accord, to discuss the deal.

Free Aceh Movement spokesman Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba acknowledged that rebels had violated the accord but accused the military of doing the same. He said the rebels would not lay down their weapons until the military withdrew to defensive positions.

Insurgents began fighting in 1976 for an independent state in oil and gas-rich Aceh, 1,770km north-west of Jakarta. The conflict has killed about 12,000 people in the past decade.