Before it was devastated by the tsunami, the province of Aceh had seen a different, slower kind of devastation: a 28 year long civil war which had left an estimated 14,000 dead.
More than a week of negotiating with the GAM brought me to this bleak landscape where the only people we saw were body collectors or scavengers.
No aid workers come to this rebel area: it's simply too dangerous.
I journeyed on into the hills. If this came off, I'd be the first journalist to meet with the separatists since Martial Law was introduced in 2003.
I met up with GAM fighters. They led me a short distance through the jungle, where, branded as terrorists, and living as fugitives, they hide away. Meeting with the rebels is strictly illegal.
But Commander Muharram, the GAM's top leader in north Aceh was keen to meet me: he'd trekked for 14 hours, through the night. He wanted to explain the GAM's stance in one of the world's longest running and least publicised civil wars. I wanted to know how the tsunami would affect the conflict.
(SOT: "The national struggle in Aceh is, and will continue to be, to achieve our dream. And that is absolute independence from Indonesia." )
I was taken to their camp along the coast. The Indonesian Government claims the rebels finance their cause with extortion, theft and ransom. But despite the government's warnings to aid agencies, the GAM have never been known to kidnap foreigners.
We passed through flattened villages where the rebel's families had lived. They'd been among the tens of thousands who perished in Aceh on boxing day.
The Commander told me the tsunami killed none of his men because they'd been in the safety of the hills. As a force the GAM may be undiminished by the disaster, but without the villagers they'd lost their main source of supplies.
We reached the GAM camp in the hills as night approached.
An air of sadness prevailed here: from their vantage point the men had seen the tsunami hit.
(SOT: "When I realised my family and so many people were gone, I was griefstricken. I didn't have the heart to see it. I couldn't stand it. It seems now that everything is gone." )
But these men had fared better than their enemy: the local Indonesian army barracks on the coast below had been hit full force by the tsunami. Thousands of soldiers must have been among the dead.
(SOT: "The units which were was at Lingkih and other places nearby, including a mobile brigade were gone and also an entire batallion. // This is from the information I have been given by locals."
The tsunami has brought the eyes of the world to this most devoutly muslim part of Indonesia. The GAM know it could be a turning point in the war.
(SOT: "Perhaps the tsunami will be a test for our struggle. But the nation of Aceh will see this as a lesson. And we WILL continue to carry on with our dream for complete independence.")
At dawn this guerilla camp seemed almost idyllic and a world away from the violently scarred landscape below.
In a place also SCARRED by violent conflict, the governement, the UN and the rebels have all now promised to push for an end to the decades of bloodshed.
The GAM declared a temporary ceasefire the day after the tsunami. But even as the government talked peace, its troops were sweeping the hills - searching for the rebels who they accuse of looting and robbing aid convoys.
So Aceh remains in a high state of tension.
The Commander's nervousness had soon become evident. (NATSOT) Lookouts spotted armed and uniformed men heading in their direction from the plains below.
The fighters rallied to investigate.
The Commander HAD told me that his strategy for the past two years had simply been to avoid contact with the Indonesian army. NOW that strategy was abandoned as he headed to intercept the intruders, ordering his men to approach the enemy in a pincer movement..
(SOT: "Lie down, lie down.")
(SOT: 'I've sent one group of men in that direction and another group in that direction. They'll catch the enemy and we will shoot them.' )
Suddenly the commander realised they weren't enemy forces at all, but his own men. They'd been escorting some villagers to a refugee camp.
He was furious that they were returning later than ordered and that they hadn't called him to say when they were arriving.
What he didn't know was that their mobile phone batteries had run out.
(NATSOT: "Come here, all come here!)
(NATSOT: "Hurry up! Hurry up!")
(NATSOT: "Why didn't you inform us. Stand in line! )
(NATSOT: "Why did you do that."
(NATSOT: "You are the leader of the group") {slaps man}.
(NATSOT: "In a war, how can you behave like this?")
Commander Muharram said he'd let the men off lightly because of my presence.
Back at the camp, his mobile phone was a constant interruption. Some calls were to co-ordinate body collections, others to fix aid deliveries to locals and food for his force.
"If you have time please send forty packets of rice.
"I have to go my mobile phone battery is dying."
The proposed ceasefire would benefit GAM - NOT the Indonesian army. On the run for two years, the rebels need time to regroup. They know the government's unlikely to allow that.
Sot: At some point, they'll attack us again: we have learnt to expect this from our previous experiences.
In the face of this lack of trust, the men were readying themselves for battle.
SOT: It may be peace or it may be war, but we will still mobilise our forces to face the possibility of a bigger war. We are hoping this will be the last war for Aceh.
Hopefully as a result of the tsunami tragedy, the international community will help the Acehnese people get absolute independence.
These soldier might be hunted and grief stricken by their losses. But they appeared to be unbroken in spirit.
The men I was with, although few in number, were well-armed & organised.
They're ruthless in their dedication to their cause - an independence that Jakarta is unlikely to allow.
And THAT bodes badly for the people of Aceh who have already suffered so much.
END
More than a week of negotiating with the GAM brought me to this bleak landscape where the only people we saw were body collectors or scavengers.
No aid workers come to this rebel area: it's simply too dangerous.
I journeyed on into the hills. If this came off, I'd be the first journalist to meet with the separatists since Martial Law was introduced in 2003.
I met up with GAM fighters. They led me a short distance through the jungle, where, branded as terrorists, and living as fugitives, they hide away. Meeting with the rebels is strictly illegal.
But Commander Muharram, the GAM's top leader in north Aceh was keen to meet me: he'd trekked for 14 hours, through the night. He wanted to explain the GAM's stance in one of the world's longest running and least publicised civil wars. I wanted to know how the tsunami would affect the conflict.
(SOT: "The national struggle in Aceh is, and will continue to be, to achieve our dream. And that is absolute independence from Indonesia." )
I was taken to their camp along the coast. The Indonesian Government claims the rebels finance their cause with extortion, theft and ransom. But despite the government's warnings to aid agencies, the GAM have never been known to kidnap foreigners.
We passed through flattened villages where the rebel's families had lived. They'd been among the tens of thousands who perished in Aceh on boxing day.
The Commander told me the tsunami killed none of his men because they'd been in the safety of the hills. As a force the GAM may be undiminished by the disaster, but without the villagers they'd lost their main source of supplies.
We reached the GAM camp in the hills as night approached.
An air of sadness prevailed here: from their vantage point the men had seen the tsunami hit.
(SOT: "When I realised my family and so many people were gone, I was griefstricken. I didn't have the heart to see it. I couldn't stand it. It seems now that everything is gone." )
But these men had fared better than their enemy: the local Indonesian army barracks on the coast below had been hit full force by the tsunami. Thousands of soldiers must have been among the dead.
(SOT: "The units which were was at Lingkih and other places nearby, including a mobile brigade were gone and also an entire batallion. // This is from the information I have been given by locals."
The tsunami has brought the eyes of the world to this most devoutly muslim part of Indonesia. The GAM know it could be a turning point in the war.
(SOT: "Perhaps the tsunami will be a test for our struggle. But the nation of Aceh will see this as a lesson. And we WILL continue to carry on with our dream for complete independence.")
At dawn this guerilla camp seemed almost idyllic and a world away from the violently scarred landscape below.
In a place also SCARRED by violent conflict, the governement, the UN and the rebels have all now promised to push for an end to the decades of bloodshed.
The GAM declared a temporary ceasefire the day after the tsunami. But even as the government talked peace, its troops were sweeping the hills - searching for the rebels who they accuse of looting and robbing aid convoys.
So Aceh remains in a high state of tension.
The Commander's nervousness had soon become evident. (NATSOT) Lookouts spotted armed and uniformed men heading in their direction from the plains below.
The fighters rallied to investigate.
The Commander HAD told me that his strategy for the past two years had simply been to avoid contact with the Indonesian army. NOW that strategy was abandoned as he headed to intercept the intruders, ordering his men to approach the enemy in a pincer movement..
(SOT: "Lie down, lie down.")
(SOT: 'I've sent one group of men in that direction and another group in that direction. They'll catch the enemy and we will shoot them.' )
Suddenly the commander realised they weren't enemy forces at all, but his own men. They'd been escorting some villagers to a refugee camp.
He was furious that they were returning later than ordered and that they hadn't called him to say when they were arriving.
What he didn't know was that their mobile phone batteries had run out.
(NATSOT: "Come here, all come here!)
(NATSOT: "Hurry up! Hurry up!")
(NATSOT: "Why didn't you inform us. Stand in line! )
(NATSOT: "Why did you do that."
(NATSOT: "You are the leader of the group") {slaps man}.
(NATSOT: "In a war, how can you behave like this?")
Commander Muharram said he'd let the men off lightly because of my presence.
Back at the camp, his mobile phone was a constant interruption. Some calls were to co-ordinate body collections, others to fix aid deliveries to locals and food for his force.
"If you have time please send forty packets of rice.
"I have to go my mobile phone battery is dying."
The proposed ceasefire would benefit GAM - NOT the Indonesian army. On the run for two years, the rebels need time to regroup. They know the government's unlikely to allow that.
Sot: At some point, they'll attack us again: we have learnt to expect this from our previous experiences.
In the face of this lack of trust, the men were readying themselves for battle.
SOT: It may be peace or it may be war, but we will still mobilise our forces to face the possibility of a bigger war. We are hoping this will be the last war for Aceh.
Hopefully as a result of the tsunami tragedy, the international community will help the Acehnese people get absolute independence.
These soldier might be hunted and grief stricken by their losses. But they appeared to be unbroken in spirit.
The men I was with, although few in number, were well-armed & organised.
They're ruthless in their dedication to their cause - an independence that Jakarta is unlikely to allow.
And THAT bodes badly for the people of Aceh who have already suffered so much.
END