The chief administrator in Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province said today Jakarta was willing to sit down with separatist rebels to seek a ceasefire.
The comments followed an offer by the leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to stop the fighting in an effort to facilitate the international aid effort in the province, worst hit by the December 26 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.
Indonesia's chief social welfare minister, Alwi Shihab
While both sides have called repeatedly for a ceasefire since the calamity which has killed 110,000 Indonesians, almost all of them in Aceh, there have been few signs on the surface that the rhetoric is turning into action.
"I want you to convince the rebels to sit down with us to reconcile," Indonesia's chief social welfare minister, Alwi Shihab, told reporters in the provincial capital.
"This is the moment of reconciliation. This is the moment of establishing peaceful Aceh and prosperous Aceh ... If they want to have a ceasefire, reconciliation, we're open to any reconciliation term."
Yesterday, GAM leaders declared a unilateral ceasefire in a news conference held in Stockholm, home to GAM's self-styled government in exile.
"Under the present situation this is a good chance for both sides to sit down and try to discuss a settlement to the political situation," Mr Malik Mahmud, the GAM leader, said.