Indonesian government and rebel leaders from tsunami-devastated Aceh Province broke off peace talks in Helsinki on Saturday after failing to reach a cease-fire in their 30-year conflict. Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari urged both sides to quickly resume negotiations.

The government and Free Aceh Movement had agreed to the talks in the aftermath of the Dec. 26 tsunami catastrophe. Aceh bore the brunt of the disaster, which killed from 145,000 to 178,000 people in 11 countries.

In the days after the tsunami, both sides pledged to freeze military operations to focus on helping victims. But the informal truce has been ignored by the military, which has said it has killed more than 200 alleged rebels.

The military has accused the rebels of attacking aid convoys -- a charge they deny. Relief workers have reported no such attacks and say the fighting has not affected their operations in Aceh.

Ahtisaari, who has worked to bring the two sides together, said Saturday they did not reach a cease-fire agreement.

The closed-door talks, which had been scheduled to continue Sunday, finished a day early, but Ahtisaari, the Finnish mediator, said he had invited both parties for a second round of meetings in Helsinki.

He said neither party had accepted the invitation.

Indonesian Communications Minister Sofyan Djalil described the meetings as “quite hopeful” and said the two sides would meet soon possibly in less than a month.

Rebel representatives were not available for comment.

On Thursday, Bakhtiar Abdullah, a spokesman for the rebels, said he had been cautiously optimistic about the talks after Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono offered the rebels concessions in return for a cease-fire.

The two sides had signed a truce in December 2002 that lasted until May the following year, when the Indonesian military expelled foreign monitors and resumed combat operations against the rebels.

The Aceh rebels have been fighting for independence since 1976
 
(Shenzhen Daily January 31, 2005)