Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has pledged to honor a historic agreement with separatist rebels from Aceh province and has urged the guerrillas to do the same.

The Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed a peace accord on Monday after six months of negotiations, paving the way for an end to three decades of bloodshed that has claimed about 15,000 lives.

"All items that appear on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) shall be consistently implemented," Yudhoyono said in a state-of-the-nation address to parliament to mark the country's 60th anniversary of independence Wednesday. "Therefore, I would like to call on the former GAM activists to also abide by that MOU," he said.

The agreement contains provisions for an amnesty for separatist rebels, the creation of political parties allowing ex-guerrillas to run for office in the province and a withdrawal of non-local security forces by the end of the year.

An amnesty is due to be granted to GAM members and political prisoners within two weeks, a human rights court and a truth and reconciliation commission is to be established, and Jakarta is to grant the province 70 percent of revenue from its natural resources.

GAM agreed to decommission its arms and demobilise its 3,000 troops under the accord, which will be monitored by 200 unarmed foreigners.

Yudhoyono tried to allay concerns that the presence of monitors from the European Union and five Southeast Asian countries in Aceh amounted to foreign interference, saying Indonesia had also sent its own troops to conflict-hit countries to monitor peace agreements.

"The conflict in Aceh is a domestic issue. We never intended to internationalise it. The presence of foreign monitors from the European Union and ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations)... is not foreign interference into our domestic affairs," he said to applause.

Both sides have been cautiously optimistic that the agreement will open the way for lasting peace, a hope lent renewed urgency after the December 26 tsunami which hit Aceh the hardest, killing at least 131,000 people.

In his address, the president also promised to seek a peaceful end to an insurgency in easternmost Papua province, Indonesia's second separatist hotspot, through limited self-rule.

"The government wishes to solve the issue in Papua in a peaceful, just and dignified manner by emphasising dialogue and a persuasive approach," he said.

US Congress last month passed a bill calling for unfettered access to investigate how Jakarta gained control of Papua 40 years ago and highlighted human rights abuses in the province, prompting criticism from Jakarta.

Separatists, who are split into badly coordinated factions, have been fighting a sporadic guerrilla war since 1963.

Like Acehnese, Papuans have complained they did not get a fair share of the province's rich natural resources. Human rights abuses by troops also fuelled separatist sentiment.