Aceh rebels to drop independence demand

Aceh separatists are ready to drop their 30-year struggle for independence from Indonesia in return for some degree of self-rule, a spokesman has said, in what could be a turning point in peace talks.

"The conflict cannot be solved like that and we have to come to terms with that," Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman Bakhtiar Abd Allah said on Monday, when asked if the goal of full independence had been abandoned in the interest of achieving greater autonomy.

"That (self government) is the main thing on the table," he said in Helsinki where peace talks with the Jakarta government were in a second day. "Of course in the negotiations we go with the tangible things that are on the table."

Indonesia and the exiled GAM leadership were making their second attempt in three weeks to agree on the future of the gas-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra island, where the conflict has cost more than 12,000 lives.

al Jazeera

He was lousy president, but pretty OK diplomat.