Peace Deal for Wave-Ravaged Area

Indonesia’s government and Aceh rebels have reached a peace deal to end the 29-year insurgency in the tsunami-devastated province, a top Indonesian official said yesterday.

A draft peace deal submitted by the rebel Free Aceh Movement was approved yesterday by the government in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, said Indonesian Communications Minister Sofyan Djalil, one of the lead negotiators at peace talks in Finland.

The peace deal will facilitate the delivery of international reconstruction aid to the province of 4.1 million inhabitants which was severely damaged by the Boxing Day tsunami that killed at least 130,000 people.

Negotiators for the Indonesian government and separatist rebels said they had reached a tentative agreement to end one of the world’s longest-running wars.

The draft accord, which hinged on an agreement to allow the separatist Free Aceh Movement to form its own political party, was sent to Jakarta for approval by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

‘The president has agreed to the draft submitted by GAM about political parties’ Djalil said this morning, referring tothe Free Aceh Movement by its Indonesian initials.

The two sides were scheduled to meet yesterday to initial the deal.

Later it was announced the Indonesian government and Aceh rebels had agreed to sign a formal peace agreement on August 15.

The agreement will be signed in Helsinki, where the two sides wrapped up the fifth round of peace talks