The Indonesian government is sending its senior officials to have a fresh round of peace talks with the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the coming week ina new effort to end the decades-long bloody conflict in Aceh province.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla revealed that a team of ministers is scheduled to fly to Finland on Sunday for the six-day talks beginning from April 12. The new round of talks were mediated by the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), a Finland-based non-governmental organization.

The Indonesian government insists that the implementation of autonomy in the restive province of Aceh is the only way to solve the protracted conflicts in the region and during the upcoming talks, the government would seek explanation from the GAM side about its proposed self-rule concept.

Kalla has said that the government expected to reach an agreement with the GAM by June this year. The latest agenda for the talks indicates that reconciliation would be possible and a settlement could come earlier than expected.

The government delegation includes chief negotiator Minister ofJustice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin, Minister of Communication and Information Sofyan Djalil and other senior officials.

The previous two rounds of talks, both held in Helsinki, have focused on a government offer to allow the province to exercise special autonomy, should the GAM give up its demand for an independent state. It was disclosed that during the previous talks in mid-February this year, top GAM leaders requested for a form ofself-rule for the province instead.

Sofyan Djalil said the GAM demanded for self-rule, but the government side did not know what it's meaning.

The minister said the government still insists on its offer of special autonomy for Aceh as "a peaceful and dignified settlement "to the conflict, which has been lingering since 1976.

"Hopefully, the upcoming talks will lead to an agreement," Djalil was quoted as saying by the daily Jakarta Post here on Saturday.

The government officials have firmly stated that peace in Aceh is a domestic issue and rejected any foreign intervention. They said that under the umbrella of the unitary state of Indonesia, the government will push forward the peace process, which includesa general amnesty to the GAM rebels and implementation of the special autonomy in the province.

The two side resumed negotiations over cease-fire and peace in Aceh at the end of January this year, but concluded as "fruitless"in Helsinki of Finland.

The talks resumed just one month after the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, which left some 160,000 people dead or missing in Aceh and some 500,000 people homeless. The first Helsinki talk, focused on humanitarian issues brought up by the earthquake and tsunami, was the first meeting between representatives of the Indonesian government and the GAM since the Tokyo dialogue failed on May 18, 2003 and a martial law was imposed on the following dayby the Indonesian government, which lasted for one year.

The special autonomy status for Aceh was introduced on Jan. 1, 2001. Under the arrangement, Aceh is basically free to run its own affairs except in the fields of defense, fiscal, foreign and religious affairs.

Source: Xinhua