Retired US General Anthony Zinni held talks with the military chief of Indonesia's Aceh province as part of efforts to pave the way for more talks between Jakarta and separatist rebels.

The private one-hour meeting with Major General Djali Yusuf was held at military headquarters in the provincial capital. Zinni was accompanied by David Gorman and Andrew Marshall from the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center which has been arranging peace talks in Switzerland since 2000.

Yusuf, quoted by his spokesman, told Zinni that in future peace talks the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should send delegates who commanded the obedience of rebels in the field.

'"All this time GAM has presented those who have no control over their forces on the ground. Consequently what has been agreed during dialogue could not be implemented," spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus Komarno quoted Yusuf as saying. Ceasefires agreed during previous talks have always broken down, with both sides accusing each other of bad faith.

Komarno said the US general told Yusuf that he visited Aceh in his capacity as an advisor to the Henry Dunant Center not as a representative of the US government. Zinni and the center's officials left Aceh for Jakarta soon after the meeting. They are expected to meet government officials in the Indonesian capital.

Zinni, who arrived in the province Monday, has already met the Aceh police chief and rebel negotiators. He has also visited the Pidie district where insurgents are active. Zinni, the US Middle East envoy, has mediated in the previous talks in Geneva as one of three foreign "wise men".

Top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said a new Aceh policy would be announced this month. Last week President Megawati Sukarnoputri vowed tougher measures against the rebels while also offering dialogue.

An estimated 10,000 people have died during 26 years of separatist violence in the energy-rich province on Sumatra island. Two civilians were found dead with gunshot wounds at Meunasah Blang in North Aceh on Tuesday night, a local aid worker said.

The head of the Aceh Legal Aid Institute, Rufriadi Ramli, said that since the beginning of this year 845 civilians have been murdered in Aceh. He also said there have been 826 cases of arbitrary arrest and 1,164 cases of torture over the past seven months.

Rufriadi expressed concern over the spiralling violence and accused Jakarta of bad faith. "The government has always spoken of enforcing law in Aceh as part of their efforts to resolve the conflict but it seems that they are allowing these extra-judicial killings to happen," he told reporters.