JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesian officials and separatist rebels have agreed to talks on a formal cease-fire in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province, an official said Sunday. In Sri Lanka _ also riven by decades of separatist fighting _ Norwegian envoys tried to resolve a dispute between the government and Tamil rebels over tsunami aid distribution.
The news about truce talks came as Indonesian government ministries raised their death toll estimates by several thousand to between 114,978 and 173,981, most of whom died in Aceh. The conflicting tallies stem from different ways of incorporating the number of missing people into the death tolls.
An official long involved in bringing the Indonesian government and Aceh guerrillas together said the talks will be held in Europe this week _ probably on Thursday in Helsinki, Finland.
The talks could lay a framework for restarting the peace process that foundered 20 months ago, said the source, who spoke on condition that his name not be used for fear of disrupting the delicate negotiations.
Elko Daily Free Press
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