Saturday, October 11, 2008 - 06:00
AFP News Briefs ListExiled Aceh rebel leader returns to Indonesia
The founder of Aceh's separatist rebel movement returned to Indonesia Saturday after nearly 30 years in exile and after a war that killed thousands of people.
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) founder Hassan di Tiro, 83, was greeted by thousands of cheering supporters and former guerillas after he arrived in the capital of war-torn and tsunami-scarred Aceh province.
"People have come from all over Aceh. They are happy to be here just to see (di Tiro) for that split minute. His heart has always been in Aceh," said Bakhtiar Abdullah, former GAM negotiator who was jailed by the Indonesians.
"There are people who were very loyal to him who would die for him, and they have never seen him before. They are still loyal to him and they would do anything for him," Abdullah said.
Aceh rebels gave up their arms and separatist rebellion in 2005 under a power-sharing agreement with the Indonesian government.
Di Tiro and other GAM leaders forged the autonomy pact in the wake of the terrible devastation of the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed around 170,000 people in the province.
Di Tiro declared independence from Indonesia in 1976, sparking a three-decade civil war which claimed some 15,000 lives and left deeply Islamic Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, in ruins.
