[Kabar-indonesia] Aceh election campaign to start in November

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

Indonesia's Aceh to start elections in November

JAKARTA, October 4 (Xinhua) -- Candidates for the leaders of
Indonesia's Aceh province will start a campaign on Nov. 24 for 
their nomination at the first-direct gubernatorial election on 
Dec. 11, Indonesian Home Affairs Minister Mohammad Ma'aruf 
said here Wednesday.

"The election will be on Dec. 11, and the campaign will last for 
14 days," he said.

Indonesian parliament endorsed a land mark law for Aceh province 
in July to pave the way for the provincial election and give the province
greater autonomy and control over most of its oil and natural gas.

The Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement
reached an agreement in Helsinki, Finland, in August 2005 to end the
three-decade long bloody conflict that killed over 15,000 people, most
of them civilians.

Under the August 2005 peace agreement, the Indonesian government
withdrew more than 23,000 troops from the province and agreed to give
it limited self-government and 70 percent of the revenues from its
natural reserves.

Among the candidates of the leaders in the northern tip of Indonesia's
Sumatra island are former rebel members, including G Irwandi Yusuf,
the representatives of the former insurgent in the Aceh Monitoring
Mission.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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