Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province yesterday said that they were ready to start handing over weapons under a December ember peace deal but questioned the army's commitment to the pact.

Sofyan Dawod, who is a local commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and its military spokesman, said the movement was prepared to move forward from the current confidence-building phase to the process of demilitarisation.

Under a December 9 agreement signed in Geneva, demilitarisation is to begin on February 9, with GAM storing weapons at designated sites and the army relocating its forces and changing its role "from a strike force to a defensive force". The military has threatened to use force against the rebels if they fail to disarm from the due date.

The Geneva-based Henry Dunant Centre, which has mediated peace talks since 2000, will keep one of the keys to the arms dumps.

Witnesses said as many as 12,000 people proceeded by car, truck or on foot to a field in the Meurah Mulia district of North Aceh to a rally to promote the peace pact. The event was addressed by both Mr Dawod and local GAM "governor" Teungku Said Adnan Adami. Security forces made no attempt to block the rally.

Mr Adami urged the people not to respect the official administration in Aceh and told village chiefs to no longer obey officially appointed sub-district chiefs, saying that they would otherwise become auxiliaries of the Indonesian government.