 Indonesia and Aceh separatists have agreed to work toward a lasting peace deal to help rebuild the province that took the brunt of the Dec. 26 tsunami. The two side said on Saturday after talks in Helsinki that they would meet again soon. After three decades of fighting that has claimed 12,000 lives, Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) put aside differences to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Aceh, where 230,000 people died or disappeared in the tsunami. The scale of the tragedy prompted ceasefire offers, and Indonesia sent its most senior delegation so far to meet the GAM's exiled leaders, who have been based in Stockholm since 1976. Jakarta is offering limited autonomy for the gas-rich province of four million people on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. The GAM has rejected that in the past, but the Finnish mediators said it formed the basis of these talks.
| Lord knows what's going to come of it, but it's certainly nice to see. Next year they'll probably be back where they were last year, but there's always a chance... |
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