Indonesian Defence Minister Mahfud Mahmoddin may have enthused about a deal he had so often predicted would not happen - but there appeared little excitement yesterday among ordinary Acehnese about it. After all, the province's once-sleepy capital is getting used to being a war zone. Truckloads of police and military routinely patrol the streets, assault rifles at the ready.
People keep their noses clean and their names to themselves.
I heard on the news that after the 15th, the violence will go down for one month. A passer-by was more blunt. There is no proof to believe that. If carried out, his threat could drag out the conflict in the oil-rich, staunchly Muslim province for years. The rebels in turn had issued a veiled threat to foreign firms operating in Aceh, calling on them to close down because their security could not be guaranteed.