Devi Asmarani, Banda Aceh – They used to emerge under the cover of night, sneaking into villages from base camps in the mountains for rare visits to their loved ones or to gather provisions from civilians backing their independence struggle.

These days, war-weary members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group can be seen sipping coffee at roadside stalls and rubbing shoulders with their former archenemies, the Indonesian troops.

After trading in their rifles to honour a peace deal signed last month, the men are bracing themselves for a new kind of struggle. They face the daunting challenge of reintegrating into a society riven by their conflict with the Indonesian troops and at the same time securing a livelihood. "The violence may have ended, but the food problem has not," GAM spokesman Sofyan Dawood said starkly yesterday.

Several GAM members interviewed by The Straits Times said they did not know what they would do next. Although the Indonesian government has assured GAM members of farmland, employment and social assistance to help in their reintegration, it is unclear when the help will be available. Mr Aceng, 23, in the village of Meureu, some 25km east of here, joined GAM when he was still in secondary school six years ago.

"I suppose I can farm, everyone here farms, but I don't know how to start," he said, sitting outside a hut with three other GAM members. After being away from home for two years, he came down the mountain from his base with 20 other rebels to a tearful family welcome on Aug 15, the day the Indonesian government signed a peace deal with the GAM leadership in Helsinki.

In Meureu, as in some other villages in Aceh, many families have at least one member who joined GAM. Twenty-six of Aceng's friends had died during the Aceh conflict.

Minister of Communication Sofyan Djalil said the government was sensitive to the situation. Along with other forms of assistance, it is also considering allowing the former rebels to work in rubber and palm oil plantations abandoned by their owners because of the conflict.

"GAM combatants have been in the bush for quite some time," he said. "When they lay down their weapons, they have to come back to the society. We need to give a kind of assistance so they can reintegrate into normal lives. If we can revitalise those 100,000ha of plantations, a lot of jobs... can be created."

But it is unclear when this programme will start, and many fear poor implementation may trigger another round of conflict. Observers say personal problems, hatred, jealousy, misunderstanding and a desire for revenge could all hinder reconciliation.

At the height of the conflict in early 2000, GAM seized control of some areas, rendering village heads like Mr Muhammad Nasir from Empi Ara village powerless.

"It was a catch-22 situation," Mr Nasir said. "If we cooperate with one side, we get into trouble with the other side." But he added that most villagers would likely welcome the rebels back as they were tired of conflicts.

However, some rebels fear that once they hang up their weapons and expose themselves, they run the risk of being targeted for revenge. At the Meureu coffee shop, where GAM members and sympathisers often gather, strangers are treated with suspicion.

During The Straits Times' visit to the village, a group of four young men toting a duffle bag filled with perfume stopped at the stall to get drinks and were given hostile stares – enough to make them leave the place.

"They were military intelligence, spying on us," said one villager. "Otherwise, why would they walk all the way here to sell things that no one would buy?"

GAM's senior representative in the monitoring mission, Mr Teungku Amni Ahmad Marzuki, said there had been reports of strangers trying to get information on the separatist group or to intimidate them.

Mr Aceng and his friends prefer to stay away from these people. "I'm not scared of them any more and it's not like I hate them, I just don't trust them," he said.