Aceh

Survivors retrieve a cart from the rubble of the devastated commercial district of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh, Friday, Dec. 31, 2004.

Reports at the time of the 2000 bombing said one of the men responsible was a member of the Free Aceh Movement, a separatist group which had been fighting for a free Islamic state in Aceh province since the mid-seventies.

Partly as a result of the need for co-operation and peace during the recovery from the tsunami in Aceh, peace talks between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were restarted.

Ethnic Rohingya children sit around a fire at their camp near a beach in Pidie, Aceh province, Indonesia, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023.

Fra i movimenti firmatari dell’appello vi sono il Jesuit Refugee Service Indonesia (Jrs Indonesia), Sahabat Insan, Human Rights Working Group (Hrwg), Banda Aceh Legal Aid Agency e RDI Urban Refugee Research Group (Rdi-Uref).

However, it turns out that these social norms have their limits: the current wave of boat arrivals has been accompanied by unusual resistance – even hostility – from communities in Aceh.

Indonesia’s navy said Thursday that it forcibly pushed a boat packed with refugees back to international waters after it approached the shores of Aceh province.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s navy said Thursday that it forcibly pushed a boat packed with refugees back to international waters after the vessel approached the shores of Aceh province.

Newly arrived Rohingya refugees are seen on the coast of Jurong Mulia, in Sabang, Aceh province today.

Police in East Aceh, a regency of more than 350,000 people that saw 36 Rohingya arrive on Sunday, said they have now imposed round-the-clock patrols.

The island of Simeulue is a surfing hotspot that happens to be a part of Aceh, the only province ruled under strict Sharia Law.

This means that there are steps to a judicial settlement, not just non-judicial," said Samsul Bahri, the victim of the Simpang KKA incident in Aceh.

And in Aceh, Indonesia, the worst-hit area nearest the quake’s epicenter, people search for survivors and food in towns that have been largely reduced to rubble.

A wooden boat carrying dozens of Rohingya Muslims capsized about 16 miles (25 Kilometers) from the coastline of Kuala Bubon beach in Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh on Wednesday.

For instance, a group of locals helped rescue an infant from the water in Banda Aceh.

GRAPHIC CONTENT: Chief Herald photographer Nick Moir flew into Banda Aceh the day after the Boxing Day tsunami.

Indonesian locals at the time looked on in horror as the 'black giant' crashed through the city of Banda Aceh.

In Indonesia's Aceh Province where more than 100,000 people were killed, a siren rang out at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque to kick off a series of memorials around the region including in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, which the tsunami hit hours later.

Members of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency scan the horizon during the search for a capsized boat carrying Rohingya refugees off West Aceh, Indonesia, on Thursday, March 21, 2024.

Most recently it happened in Aceh,” Wishnu told Mongabay Indonesia, referring to Indonesia’s westernmost province and home to the country’s largest remaining elephant population.