On 27 December 2005, the leaders of the Free Aceh Movement announced that they had disbanded their military wing. The action, which took effect immediately, follows from earlier peace talks and the destruction of 840 weapons by international observers, Free Aceh movement commander Sofyan Daud told reporters, "The Aceh national army is now part of civil society, and will work to make the peace deal a success." As a sign of how the peace process was progressing the founder of Aceh's separatist rebel movement, Hasan di Tiro, returned to Indonesia on 11 October 2008 after nearly 30 years in exile.
