Banda Aceh – Ginger farmer Sulaiman looks pensively across his fertile field in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, afraid fresh military operations could soon shatter the calm ushered in by a landmark peace pact.
Leaning against his plough, Sulaiman, 46, wonders how much longer he will be able to work his one-hectare plot without fear. The 100 or so peace monitors in Aceh have withdrawn to the provincial capital for their own safety and the military have threatened a full-scale attack on the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
"The monitors stabilised Aceh. They had introduced a new flowering to Aceh life, which until then was in chaos," Sulaiman said, speaking on the outskirts of the local capital, Banda Aceh.
Indonesia's government and the rebels signed the peace agreement four months ago and, until recent weeks, the deal had dramatically reduced the level of violence in Aceh. For the first time in years, the fog of fear had lifted from the Acehnese.
At least 10,000 people, many of them civilians, were killed in more than two decades of fighting leading up to the pact.
Now, from farmers to students, shop vendors to businessmen in this resource-rich region on the northern tip of Sumatra, fears of gunfire, bomb blasts and intimidation have returned.
Renewed clashes between government troops and rebels, and attacks on the facilities of peace monitors, have put the peace pact in jeopardy. Indonesia has proposed a high-level meeting to try to sort out these problems but has not set any date.
"The situation is just like before the agreement was signed. I am now afraid to go out at night," said Anita, 37, shopping at a Banda Aceh market.
Indonesia said on Sunday the peace process could be put back on track if separatists agreed to attend an emergency meeting. Those comments came just days after the government said it could resume full combat missions in Aceh, 1,700 km northwest of Jakarta.
Many Acehnese are haunted by the military. "All the traumatic memories from military operations have returned since the Indonesian military said it might renew that option," Ahmad, a resident in north Aceh, told a local newspaper.
"We really fear for our lives because the joint security members have left their office in Lhoksemawe," he said, referring to one GAM stronghold where the peace monitors had been based.
Rusdi, a 24-year-old student eating at an open-air night market in central Banda Aceh, told Reuters: "The two sides can't control themselves. Indonesia and GAM forces on the ground aren't serious about sticking to the deal." Both sides have traded accusations over who is to blame.
The government and the military have become especially incensed at what they say is GAM's campaign to use the peace process to drum up support for independence.
The issue of autonomy versus independence for Aceh is one some analysts say was not addressed properly in the peace agreement. This left GAM room for manoeuvre on the issue despite foreign support for the view that Aceh is part of Indonesia.
Some analysts have also accused the military of trying to sideline the peace monitors and said protests against them appeared to have been carried out by pro-government people.
One resident who showed no faith in anyone, not even the monitors, was Ismail, a coconut drink vendor in Banda Aceh. "The peace pact has no meaning to the people, what we see is another disaster for us Acehnese who are sandwiched between the scams of Indonesia and GAM," Ismail, 34, said dismissively.