Separatist rebel leaders from Indonesia's Aceh province have agreed to discuss Jakarta's offer of limited autonomy at further peace talks next week, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Saturday. The two sides are due to meet in Helsinki on Monday for talks mediated by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari's Crisis Management Initiative. Yudhoyono said Indonesia had only agreed to send a delegation if it was "guaranteed that GAM (Free Aceh Movement} leadership will obey the agenda".

That was "special autonomy and topics around that", Yudhoyono told reporters in the Aceh provincial capital of Banda Aceh, where he was touring areas devastated by the December 26 earthquake and tsunami.

GAM has rejected similar offers in the past, insisting on ultimate independence from Jakarta.

The talks are aimed at ending three decades of violence and securing a lasting peace for the gas-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra.

Analysts say the meeting should aim to secure a cease-fire so that rehabilitation work can proceed more smoothly in Aceh, where more than 235,000 are dead or listed as missing after the earthquake and the tsunami it unleashed.

Copyright Reuters, 2005