Helsinki, Finland
Indonesian officials signed a peace deal with Aceh rebels in Helsinki this week, officially ending a three-decade separatist insurrection. The Free Aceh Movement agreed to hand over its weapons and drop its demand for independence, while the government agreed to give the Acehnese local self-rule and control over most of their oil and gas reserves. The ceremony took place in Finland because the chief mediator was Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish prime minister. But both sides agreed that much of the credit goes to the shared tragedy of last December’s tsunami, which killed 150,000 people in the province and forced rebels and soldiers to work together on rescue missions.
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