HELSINKI, Finland (AP) – The Indonesian government and Aceh rebels agreed Sunday to sign a formal peace agreement next month, vowing to end a 29-year conflict that has killed 15,000 people in the tsunami-ravaged province.

The peace deal – which will allow reconstruction aid for victims of the Dec. 26 natural disaster – is to be signed Aug. 15 in Helsinki, the two sides said after wrapping up the fifth and final round of talks in the Finnish capital.

In a joint statement, the two sides said the agreement covers the governing of Aceh province and rebel participation in the political process. It also contains an amnesty for the separatist rebels and the establishment of an Aceh monitoring mission consisting of unarmed European Union and Southeast Asian observers.

Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who mediated the talks, said he assumed monitors would be present for the official signing in Aceh, an oil- and gas-rich province on the northern tip of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island.

He urged both parties to stop fighting by then.

“All hostilities have to end with the signing,” Ahtisaari said. “They’re unfortunately still going on.”

Aceh, once a fiercely independent sultanate, was invaded in 1870 by the Dutch, who attached it to their East Indies colony, which gained independence as Indonesia in 1949. The result was almost constant warfare, as guerrillas battled the Dutch, Japanese invaders during World War II and later Indonesian rule.

The latest hostilities broke out in 1976. Although many Acehnese want an end to the bloodshed, there has been general support for independence because of abuses by Indonesian security forces. Human rights groups accuse the army of executions, disappearances, torture, rape and collective punishment of civilians.

A six-month truce collapsed two years ago when the army kicked out foreign observers, declared martial law, arrested rebel negotiators and mounted an offensive in which more than 3,000 people died.

Then came the earthquake and tsunami, which killed 130,000 people in Aceh alone. Aid workers poured into the formerly closed province in the aftermath, leading to international pressure – particularly from the United States and EU – on Jakarta to halt the violence.

Eventually the government and exiled leaders of the Free Aceh Movement, known as GAM from its Indonesian acronym, agreed to talks.

The resulting deal will facilitate the delivery of international reconstruction aid to the devastated province of 4.1 million inhabitants.

“We are very satisfied. We are very happy with the result,” said Hamid Awaluddin, Indonesia’s minister of justice, who headed the government delegation.

The deal, which was initialed by both sides Sunday, reportedly allows the separatists to field candidates in April elections for town mayors. The government also has reportedly agreed to change a law banning local political parties – a key rebel demand – within 18 months.

In Jakarta, Indonesia’s vice president, Jusuf Kalla, said parliament will have to agree to changes in the law to allow the rebels to form their own political party.

Under the peace deal, Indonesian army troops deployed to Aceh will be cut from 35,000 to 13,000, and police will be reduced from 15,000 to 10,000. That will leave 23,000 Indonesian security forces in the province.

The reduction is to be overseen by EU observers and monitors from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Damien Kingsbury, an Australian academic who was part of the Acehnese delegation in the Finnish capital, called the government’s acceptance of the deal “a workable agreement.”

“This whole agreement is a leap of faith. It is working on the assumption that the Indonesian government is honest and sticks to its promise,” he said. “In that case it is not important how many troops there are for external defense.”

Kingsbury said the return of the rule of law to Aceh would include the possibility that those responsible for war crimes would be prosecuted. Human rights groups have accused the Indonesian military of numerous abuses during the fighting.

Experts say the formula set by the peace deal will help defuse separatist tensions that have threatened to tear Indonesia apart since the ouster of dictator Suharto in 1998 and East Timor’s secession a year later. It also would provide a blueprint for resolving another secessionist crisis in Papua, at the other end of Indonesia’s vast archipelago.

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Associated Press reporter Mans Hulden in Helsinki contributed to this report.

AP-ES-07-17-05 1715EDT

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