The Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) are ready to resume peace talks in Helsinki later this week, with both sides planning to send high-level officials, a local newspaper reported Wednesday.

The government was planning to offer amnesty to GAM rebels, butthat it would maintain that Aceh remained a part of the unitary state of Indonesia, said The Jakarta Post, quoting an unnamed source familiar with the planned talks.

The source said that the talks would be held from Jan. 28 to Jan. 30, and would be facilitated by the Finland-based Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), a mediation group led by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, which has extensive experiencein mediating conflicts.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security AffairsWidodo Adi Sucipto will lead the Indonesian delegation, which alsoincludes Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaludin, State Minister of Communications and Information Sofyan Djalil and senior military officer Maj. Gen. Syarifuddin Tippe, who in the late 1990s was in charge of the military command in Aceh.

The source said that the delegation, the strongest one ever as previous talks were led by senior diplomats, would leave for Finland on Wednesday afternoon. The government has assigned Hamid as its chief negotiator.

Meanwhile, a source from GAM said that most of the top leaders of the movement, which has been struggling for independence since 1976, would be in attendance. They include self-styled Aceh Prime Minister Malik Machmood, its Minister of Foreign Affairs Zaini Abdullah, GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah and other GAM political leaders residing in Malaysia and Australia.

Details about the planned talks, however, remain sketchy. Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said earlier Tuesday that the government had not yet set a date nor place for talks with GAM.

It is also not completely clear what CMI would be tasked to do.

The government has said that it had instructed its military troops in Aceh to stop offensive attacks against GAM rebels and focus on protecting the ongoing humanitarian work in Aceh. The military claimed last week it had killed around 208 rebels since the tsunami because the rebels were said to be trying to disrupt the relief operation.

Meanwhile, Chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said the TNI could accept a peaceful solution to the Aceh conflict planned by the government.

"Since it's a political decision, the TNI will not interfere, although we provide input to the government in the decision-makingprocess," he said, without elaborating.

Source: Xinhua