Indonesia and Aceh separatists, thrown together after three decades of bloodshed by the tsunami that devastated the province, said on Saturday they would meet again soon to seek a peace deal to help rebuild Aceh. Government officials and exiled leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), meeting for the first time in nearly two years, said their Finnish mediators would convene another meeting "in the near future" to discuss what an Indonesian minister called "a comprehensive peace settlement". The delegations emerged from two days of talks focusing on the humanitarian crisis in Aceh, where about 230,000 people were killed or disappeared in the Dec. 26 tidal wave, saying the next round of talks would tackle their major political differences. "We have an in-principle agreement to meet again in the near future to discuss a comprehensive peace settlement under the umbrella of self-autonomy," Indonesian Information Minister Sofyan Djalil told reporters in Helsinki. "There are differences that need to be ironed out. According to facilitators of the talks, they will arrange the next meeting in the near future," the GAM's prime minister, Malik Mahmud said, adding that the GAM leaders had established "a close relationship" with the high-level Indonesian delegation. --More 2110 Local Time 1810 GMT
