Military, rebels greet Aceh pact with caution

The pact, signed in the Finnish capital Helsinki on Monday, stipulates the rebels should surrender all arms, ammunition and explosives in four stages before December 31 in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

In return, the Indonesian military must halve its current force to 14,700 troops, using a timeframe matching the decommissioning of Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels.

"We will move all of our striking teams to residential areas. They will no longer conduct offensive operations to seek and destroy GAM," Indonesia military chief General Endriartono Sutarto told reporters after meeting soldiers at a base near the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.