Eight months after the Indian Ocean tsunami smashed into Aceh in December 2004, the Indonesian government and separatist rebels signed a pact ending one of Asia's longest running wars.

The extraordinary size of the disaster, which left nearly 170,000 dead or missing in the northern Sumatran province, helped reignite peace talks.

But the success of the weapons handover by rebels and the almost simultaneous withdrawal of thousands of troops stunned even the optimists.

The threat of militia violence has not materialised and prisoners given amnesty have returned home without incident.

"We are surprised that we are finishing the conflict so fast," Indonesia's Vice President Jusuf Kalla said in early 2006. "(The rebels are) surprised with how our army pulled back, and the people are surprised with how peaceful it is there after 30 years."

The war began in 1976 when the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM) or the Free Aceh Movement, launched its campaign for independence. At its helm was Hasan Muhammad di Tiro, who was descended from a family with close ties to Aceh's former sultans and had worked in Indonesia's mission to the United Nations in the 1950s.

Fierce reaction from government troops forced Tiro and other GAM leaders to flee to Sweden, where they set up a self-styled government in exile.

The separatists accused Jakarta of grabbing too much of the revenue from the province's abundant natural resources like gas.

GAM maintained Jakarta was an occupying power in Aceh whose people were culturally and linguistically different from other Indonesians. (This could be claimed by many in a country made up of hundreds of ethnic groups with their own cultures and languages.)

Aceh is more solidly Muslim and more orthodox than the rest of the country. About 98 percent of Aceh's 4 million people are Muslim. Its location on the western end of the archipelago made it a gateway for Islamic influence and its main city Banda Aceh is known as "The Veranda of Mecca" (Islam's holy city).

Around 15,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the war. Independent groups say both sides, but especially the military, violated human rights. Troops have been accused of rape, torture and extra-judicial killings.

Some government and rebel fighters also profited financially from the conflict via illegal tolls on roads, kidnapping, and demands for protection money.

The government, which launched a massive military offensive and imposed a state of emergency after the collapse of a short-lived truce in 2003, continued to carry out operations against the rebels in the weeks immediately after the tsunami.

But in late January 2005 the two sides met face to face in Helsinki for the first peace talks in nearly two years.

Both parties made important compromises leading to the signing of a peace pact on Aug. 15. GAM dropped its independence demand and the government agreed to let GAM members participate in politics.

"I think the tsunami somehow already changed minds ... that this tragedy is much bigger than war," Acehnese political activist Ahmad Humam Hamid told Reuters at the time. "We need our kids to go to school. We need our families to be safe. We need farmers to start living again as before."

The rebels disbanded their military wing at the end of December 2005 after handing in hundreds of weapons. Indonesia pulled out the last of its troops and police reinforcements shortly afterwards.

A handful of GAM leaders returned to Aceh in April to help with the peace process after years in exile.

In December, former GAM spokesman Irwandi Yusuf was elected governor in Aceh's first direct election, aimed at shoring up the peace pact.

He had previously been jailed but escaped in 2004 when the tsunami struck his prison.

As part of the autonomy package, Aceh has been given the right to adopt strict Islamic sharia laws in the judicial system.

The violence has uprooted hundreds of thousands of people over the years. Fighting and restrictions on movement have also disrupted livelihoods, schooling and healthcare.

No one has kept tabs on figures but the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) estimates 500,000 to 800,000 were forced to move at some point between 1999 and 2004.

Much of the displacement was short-term. Many moved to mosques and other public buildings when their villages were at risk of attack, returning a few weeks later to rebuild their homes.

But an estimated 120,000 people sought long-term refuge outside the province between 1999 and 2002, according to the IDMC. These were mostly people of Javanese origin. Many moved to North Sumatra and received a lump sum from the government in return for giving up their status as internally displaced people (IDPs).

After Indonesia launched its military campaign to eradicate GAM in 2003, some 125,000 people moved to camps managed by the army, but it is believed a far greater number went to live with host families or into the forest.

The vast majority had returned home by the end of 2004, but most had lost their livelihoods and were struggling to survive when the tsunami struck.

Indonesia refused to allow foreign aid workers into the province during its military campaign but opened up the area after the tsunami.

The tsunami, which left half a million people homeless in Indonesia, smashed up towns, villages, seaports, airports and kilometres of roads.

More than 600,000 people lost their livelihoods, half of them fishermen. Farmers and small traders were also badly hit. Some 60,000 hectares of agricultural land were damaged.

Male survivors outnumber women by a ratio of 3:1 in some villages, and overall, far more women and children were killed, changing family and social structures.

Even before the tsunami, the conflict had taken its toll on Aceh, where much of the province's infrastructure was dysfunctional.

The 2005 peace agreement smoothed the way for a multi-billion dollar internationally backed reconstruction programme in Aceh.

The Indonesian body overseeing recovery, the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR), says between 80,000 and 110,000 new homes are needed. The BRR aims to get everyone into permanent housing by 2007.

Indonesia says it will need $5-5.5 billion for long-term recovery . Some $6.5 billion has been pledged.

There has been criticism that tsunami IDPs have received far more attention than conflict IDPs. The United Nations and aid agencies stress they must be treated equally to avoid creating damaging social and economic divisions.

Aceh has significant resources in minerals, palm oil, rubber and other agricultural products such as coffee.

Analysts have said the new leadership will need to deliver on reducing widespread unemployment and on housing for tens of thousands still homeless after the tsunami.

Development efforts in east Aceh were dealt a blow in December 2006, when floods and landslides forced hundreds of thousands into temporary shelters.

Authorities blamed heavy rains and the effects of deforestation for the destruction. Lack of adequate forest cover had left the ground less able to absorb excess water.

Three years after peace, politics in Aceh remains volatile, according to a World Bank report which surveyed the area in 2008.

Localised violence has risen since August 2005, especially kidnappings and murders, the report says.

There is concern that violence and crime could affect foreign investment and economic development.

The report also said demonstrations and arguments arising from aid issues such as housing rehabilitation can harm social cohesion.