Sian Powell, Jakarta – Most Acehnese believe the blood-drenched province needs a ceasefire, or at least an end to hostilities, but Governor Abdullah Puteh said yesterday his prime requirements were tourism and foreign investment.

Addressing serried ranks of troops, police and civil servants at the civil administration's first staff ceremony since civil emergency law replaced martial law, Mr Puteh was upbeat about the prospects for Aceh.

"We will open the door for foreign investors and also for tourists," he said. "We will ask all the people to co-operate with this."

More than 2000 people have been killed in Aceh since May last year, when the military launched a crackdown to crush rebels. Most were civilians, activists claim, and no senior rebel commanders have been captured or killed.

An estimated 40,000 troops remain stationed in the province, where gunfights between the separatist rebels and the armed forces occur almost daily.

Standing in the sun in Banda Aceh's Blang Padang field, Mr Puteh addressed an audience comprising most of the government leaders in Aceh, including military chief Major-General Endang Suwarya, the supreme authority in the province until earlier this month.

Major-General Suwarya said recently that Aceh's changed status had not changed his intention to hunt down every last rebel.