Aceh independence call triggers fears of renewed conflict in Indonesia’s restive province

For 29 years between 1976 and 2005, Indonesia’s province of Aceh waged an armed insurgency against Jakarta rule, a conflict which claimed more than 15,000 lives.Following a concerted push by the Indonesian government, combined with the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that killed 170,000 people, the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) laid down its arms under the 2005 Helsinki peace accord. Unrest could be stirred anew, however, by GAM’s former leader’s call for a referendum on Acehnese independence…