The Indonesian government and separatist rebels from Aceh province will hold talks in Helsinki next week, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja confirmed Sunday.

The talks between the government and the Free Aceh Movement were brokered by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari long before the tsunami disaster there, said Tuomioja.

He said the Finnish government supported Ahtisaari's efforts and hoped that the negotiations would lead to rapid results.

Ahtisaari, chairman of the Crisis Management Initiative, a non-governmental agency which works to prevent and manage conflicts, has acted as a special envoy for the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

In 1999, he helped broker a deal between NATO and Yugoslavia that ended the war in Kosovo.

Source: Xinhua