Helsinki – Peace broker Martti Ahtisaari on Saturday praised former enemies Indonesia and the Aceh rebels for honoring a treaty that ended almost 30 years of bloodshed in the former separatist province.

Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president who mediated the negotiations resulting in a peace pact signed in Helsinki in August, declared the process a success.

"From my point of view, I could have hardly expected anything better than what has happened," Ahtisaari told reporters after meeting both parties earlier Saturday.

"I think this has been a very positive experience for all of us. This is the beginning of a process nevertheless, as everyone realizes, but it's a very, very good beginning," he added.

Leaders of the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, also were upbeat about the talks with Ahtisaari and an Indonesian delegation headed by Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

"Regarding this meeting... it was very, very cordial, very friendly," said Malik Mahmud, a GAM leader who has lived in exile in neighboring Sweden during the conflict. "We managed to make a mutual understanding that we have to work closely together. We are very positive about a future for Aceh."

The accord became possible after GAM agreed to disarm and renounce a demand for full independence, and Indonesia's government said it would cut the numbers of troops and police in the region.

In December, the rebels surrendered the last of their weapons and disbanded their military wing, and Indonesia followed through with a pledge to withdraw nearly half its 50,000 troops from the province and to grant amnesty to rebel prisoners.

The EU sent some 250 monitors to Aceh to observe the disbanding of rebel militias and the withdrawal of Indonesian security forces.

On Friday, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen told Kalla the EU likely will decide in February to extend by three months its mission in Aceh, originally scheduled to end in mid-March.

After Saturday's talks, Kalla said the Indonesian government also "was very optimistic" about the peace process. He also expressed confidence that elections in Aceh, originally slated for April, will be held by midyear.

"Elections will be after the new laws. If the new laws will be passing in Parliament around February or March...then tentatively (elections will be held) not in April, but maybe in May or June," Kalla said.

During his three-day visit, Kalla also met President Tarja Halonen and thanked the Finnish government for making possible the negotiations that ended fighting in the province that killed 15,000 people.