Indonesia to withdraw troops from Aceh

The Indonesian government said today it would start withdrawing troops from Aceh in September as part of an agreement with rebels to end three decades of fighting that has killed 15,000 people.

The announcement followed claims by separatists and soldiers that battles in the tsunami-ravaged province have claimed up to 10 lives in recent days, each side saying the other was to blame.

Information Minister Sofyan Djalil insisted renewed violence would not affect the peace process.

"The situation in Aceh will improve," he said after a Cabinet meeting in Jakarta. Both sides "want to see an end to combat in the field."

Government negotiators and representatives of the Free Aceh Movement agreed Sunday after five days of talks in Finland to sign an accord on August 15 to end one of the region's longest-running wars.

Lasting peace would ease the massive international relief effort in Aceh, still recovering from the December 26 earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 130,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Several earlier accords collapsed, the most recent in 2003, and claims today that fighting had intensified in the days that followed the Helsinki meeting raised new concerns.

But Cabinet ministers insisted on moving forward, revealing details of the draft peace deal, the crux of which gives the rebels, who gave up their demand for independence, some form of political representation in Aceh.

A promised troop reduction in the province would begin in mid-September and be complete by December 31, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin told reporters.

Earlier, officials said the number of security forces, now at 50,000, would be gradually cut to 23,000 under the watchful eye of EU observers and monitors from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.