Indonesia ramped up its peace bid for tsunami-hit Aceh, saying it would consider anything except independence in talks with separatist rebels, while trying to reassure the world that relief aid was safe from endemic corruption.

"We will entertain any demand short of independence," Social Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab, who is jointly overseeing relief operations in Aceh with army chief General Ryamizard Ryacudu, said in the devastated capital of Banda Aceh.

Shihab also indicated the government may be willing to accept international help in negotiating an end to the conflict, which has long been regarded as a strictly internal issue.

"This is the time for Indonesia and the global community to do its utmost efforts to get back Aceh into a peaceful period," he said, without elaborating.

Shihab's comments are the latest effort in a government peace campaign for Aceh that was launched immediately after the December 26 earthquake and tsunami disaster, which claimed more than 166,000 lives in the province.

They raised the prospect of autonomy for the resource-rich province on the island of Sumatra, as well as amnesties for insurgents and the dropping of legal moves against exiled rebel leaders in Sweden.

All these options have been closed off since peace talks between the two sides broke down in May 2003, sparking a brutal military crackdown.

Shihab said peace was vital to helping the international humanitarian effort in Aceh, as was protecting global aid from the corruption that plagues all levels of Indonesian society.

He outlined a range of measures the government was implementing to prevent corruption in the global relief effort, including the publishing of a monthly balance sheet of aid money received and spent. Shihab also said the government and parliament were working to set up a new body, the Authority Board for Aceh, to oversee anti-corruption activities in Aceh.

The body will be established as soon as possible, he said, without giving a date. The head of the body will have a ministerial rank, will be directly responsible to the president and include non-government organisations.

Shihab said another way to ensure the rehabilitation and reconstruction process would be free of corruption was for the donor country and Indonesian government to jointly select the organisations that will carry out the work.

"Not only you, as donors, are concerned with transparency and accountability, we, as the government, want to demonstrate to the whole world that we are different from the previous governments," Shihab said.

"Let us show our commitment, let us prove that our commitment is true." In Kobe, Japan, some non-government organisations meeting for a global conference on disasters said Saturday that political constraints in Indonesia were discouraging international groups from joining the relief effort. "We are considering working in Sri Lanka ... but it is very difficult to do so in Indonesia," said Masakiyo Murai, director of Citizens Toward Overseas Disaster Emergency.

"Political interference is a big concern," said Murai, whose group has sent members to more than 30 countries hit by various national disasters including Turkey, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.

Murai was referring to restrictions placed on foreign aid workers and journalists in Aceh, which include requiring them to register and be accompanied by the military if they travel outside main towns.

The move by Jakarta has been seen as an attempt by the government to reassert its authority over Aceh, which had previously been closed to most foreigners because of the separatist insurgency.

But some activists defended the Indonesian government, as the United Nations has done previously, noting the sensitivities of allowing a mass of foreigners into Aceh.

Datuk Jemilah Mahmood, president of the Malaysian Medical Relief Society, said her group sent medical teams to Aceh and had encountered no difficulties. "It's also the responsibility of NGOs to be fairly open with them [the government] and share the plans with them," said Mahmood, who also chairs the Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network.

The December 26 earthquake off Sumatra triggered giant waves which crashed into the shores of 11 Indian Ocean nations killing nearly 220,000 people. Aside from Indonesia, the worst-hit countries were Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.