As many as 12,000 people, most of them civilians, have died since the conflict between government troops and separatist rebels in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh began in the mid-1970s. An even worse disaster was visited upon the troubled province by the tsunami of December 26th, which swept away perhaps 170,000 of its residents and left around 600,000 homeless. Shortly after the tsunami, a new round of peace talks began, sponsored by Finland. One of the main obstacles to a settlement was cleared early on, when the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) dropped its demand for full independence. Meeting in Helsinki on July 17th, representatives of the two sides announced that they had arrived at a formula for disarming militants, reintegrating them into civil society, with- drawing Indonesian troops and monitoring a ceasefire, which they intend to sign on August 15th.
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