Aceh peace deal 'within reach'

The Indonesian military launched an offensive in Aceh in May 2003

Indonesian officials and Aceh rebels are holding a fifth round of peace talks in Helsinki, with both sides saying a deal is within reach.

"We have still not reached agreement but I think we are almost there," rebel spokesman Bachtiar Abdullah said.

He was speaking after the two sides met separately with an EU delegation and the chief mediator, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari.

Indonesia's team said before the talks it was confident of reaching a deal.

The talks were first initiated in the wake of December's tsunami that killed at least 120,000 people in Aceh.

A previous peace deal broke down in May 2003 amid bitter recriminations.

About 15,000 people have died in the three decades-old conflict in the north-western province.

'Sticking points'

Mr Abdullah said that despite hopes for a breakthrough there remained several issues to be resolved.

"Some of the sticking points will be dealt with on Wednesday," he said.

ACEH: ESSENTIAL FACTS Located on the northern tip of Sumatra island Population of 4.3m people Rich fuel resources, including oil and natural gas Gam rebels have been fighting for an independent state

The leader of the Indonesian delegation, Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin, said before the talks that he was "very confident that we'll reach an agreement".

Over the past four rounds of what are described as informal talks, the two sides appear to have made progress on many of the broad issues at stake, the BBC's Rachel Harvey says.

The Free Aceh Movement (Gam) rebels have agreed to some form of self-government within Indonesia, rather than push for full independence.

In return, Aceh is likely to be offered a far greater share of revenues from its rich natural resources, including oil and gas.

But significant hurdles still need to be overcome, including the question of political representation, our correspondent says.

The rebels wanted to be able to form their own local political party, but this has been rejected by the government.

Instead a compromise may be sought, whereby individual rebel commanders could stand for election as mayors or district heads, presumably as independents or under the auspices of one of the existing national parties.

Selling deal

The other outstanding issue is how to demilitarise the province, our correspondent says.

Aceh's rebels have been waging a 30-year struggle for independence

The Indonesian military has ruled out an immediate ceasefire, saying the rebels must first disarm. The rebels, in turn, want all government troops to be withdrawn from Aceh.

Meanwhile nationalists in parliament have been vocal in criticising the entire negotiating process, saying there should be no deals with separatists.

The two negotiating teams are talking optimistically about the chances of reaching an agreement in principle.

But selling that agreement back home, and then making it stick, will present new and potentially more difficult challenges, our correspondent say.