Jakarta – Aceh Governor-elect Irwandi Yusuf met Monday with Army chief of staff Gen. Djoko Santoso to seek support in leading the province.

Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Ricardo Siahaan said that in the 30-minute meeting, Irwandi stressed that support from the military, especially the Army, would be indispensable in helping Aceh's recovery.

"To win elections is easy, but to unify Aceh is not an easy task. Therefore I will need support from all sides, including the military," Irwandi was quoted by Ricardo as saying after the meeting. In the meeting, Irwandi also invited Djoko to attend his inauguration ceremony on Feb. 8.

Ricardo said that Djoko had told Irwandi that he would the military would provide all-out support as long as the regional administration maintained its adherence to the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.

Djoko said that all military commanders throughout the country, including Aceh, had been order to help local governments. He also said that the military had never tried to meddle in civilian affairs and that its role in regions such as Aceh and Papua was based on the decisions of the government.

Aceh's Independent Elections Committee declared Irwandi, a former member of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the winner of December's direct poll after he won 768,745 votes, or 38.20 percent of the more than two million ballots counted across the province.

Eight pairs of candidates contested the Dec. 11 elections, which were held after the government and GAM signed a landmark peace deal in Helsinki in August 2005. The agreement ended 29 years of bloody conflict that killed at least 15,000 people in the resources-rich province.

The agreement itself was triggered by the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami that swept through the Indian Ocean, with Aceh receiving the brunt of the destruction with about 125,000 fatalities.

In spite of his background in GAM, where he was a high-ranking official, Irwandi has frequently stated that he has no plans to revive the secession movement. Irwandi's election win raised concerns in some circles that he would encourage the province to leave the republic.

Speaking soon after his win, he said he and his deputy would focus on poverty eradication, job creation, education, improving health services and empowering small- and medium-sized enterprises.