AS MANY as 12,000 people, most of them civilians, have died
since the conflict between government troops and separatist
rebels in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh began in the
mid-1970s. An even worse disaster was visited upon the troubled
province by the tsunami of December 26th, which swept away
perhaps 170,000 of its residents and left around 600,000
homeless.  Shortly after the tsunami, a new round of peace talks
began, sponsored by Finland. One of the main obstacles to a
settlement was cleared early on, when the rebel Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) dropped its demand for full independence. Meeting
in Helsinki on July 17th, representatives of the two sides
announced that they had arrived at a formula for disarming
militants, reintegrating them into civil society, withdrawing
Indonesian troops and monitoring a ceasefire, which they intend
to sign on August 15th.  Considering how quickly a previous
peace accord, in 2002, fell apart, it is unsurprising that this
breakthrough met with a muted reaction in Ac