Jerry Norton, Samahani – Standing ankle-deep in the muddy rice paddy he is working with a wooden-handled hoe, Abdullah, 56, said after three decades of fighting between the Indonesian government and Acehnese rebels, he had had enough.
"I hope it will work and the people also hope it will work. What we want is peace," he said, referring to a peace agreement the two sides have been trying to hammer out in Helsinki.
They finished their latest round of talks on Tuesday, and will return to the table next month in the effort to end 30 years of conflict between the Indonesian military (TNI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Some 12,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the battle for Aceh on Sumatra's northern tip.
"Some people are afraid of the GAM and some others afraid of the TNI. The lower division of the TNI only know how to shoot people," and the same is true of GAM, Abdullah said.
Independent groups have charged both sides with human rights violations ranging from deliberate killings of civilians to kidnapping and extortion, with the Indonesian military getting the heaviest criticism.
Former US President Bill Clinton, the UN's envoy for tsunami relief, said this week an end to the conflict is critical if the province is to fully recover from the December 26 earthquake and the giant wave it triggered. The disaster left 160,000 dead and missing in Aceh and destroyed the homes of another 500,000.
Army and rebels a problem
Near Abdullah's rice paddy and next to the village of Samahani, a half-hour drive from the provincial capital Banda Aceh, is a camp for some of those the tsunami displaced.
On the porch of one of its tin-roofed barrack-like buildings, a 40-year-old mother of five said she – like many in Aceh – is unsure of details of the negotiations but hopes they succeed because in her home area "we were in a conflict situation, it was hard to do our jobs, difficult."
On top of that, said the sarong-clad woman who declined to be named: "My younger brother was in GAM and was caught and taken away. He knew how to make guns. He joined the GAM and the TNI caught him," she added as tears streamed down her face. She hoped peace will bring him home. "I really want my brother to be released."
Another camp resident, a school teacher, said she did not know about the talks. "I don't listen to any news. I still have trauma problems" from the tsunami. But she expected to go back to her home district eventually, "an unsafe area" in the conflict, and hoped for peace.
Like many Acehnese she has sometimes been caught in the middle by the civil war. "Basically there are always problems for a government official," a category that for GAM can include teachers.
On the other hand, she said, "my husband was a food seller and the army checked at the store to see whether there were GAM shopping there." The military wanted to make sure no food was sold to the rebels.
The presence of one side or the other in an area can mean problems for residents.
Zakiar, 46, said there were sometimes problems with GAM and TNI where he lives in the makeshift camp of tsunami survivors nestled among trees in the Krueng Raya area some 50 km northeast of Banda Aceh. He cited two deadly shooting incidents since the tsunami.
Another camp resident, a woman who declined to be named, said: "last Friday, GAM, they come here, asking us the conditions about TNI because everyday the marines or army TNI they come here. It is a problem for us."
"I'm very, very afraid to see GAM," she said, but praised their bravery. While she said she did not know the details of the deal being worked out in Helsinki, she questioned whether GAM would stick to it. "They never lost, they never lost their spirit. Someday they will win the war maybe."
GAM has fought for independence for devout Muslim Aceh, which is rich in oil, gas and metals, since 1976. But the two sides are not discussing independence at the peace talks.