Military chief General Endriartono Sutarto said his men had stopped raids on Free Aceh Movement guerrilla camps as diplomats tried to halt the long-running conflict that has threatened to disrupt efforts to help survivors.

Sutarto also said the army had killed a total of 208 separatists since the rebels declared a unilateral ceasefire on the day of the December 26 disaster, a claim which will do little to tone down the military's aggressive image.

Exiled rebel leaders expressed pessimism at the likelihood of peace talks, saying there had been no contact yet from Jakarta. Indonesian officials have indicated that dialogue which collapsed in 2003 could resume by the end of the month.

"We have not seen anything, we have not heard anything, there's no such thing going to happen," spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah told AFP by phone from Sweden.

Indonesia began an operation in May 2003 to crush rebels who have been fighting since 1976 against a government they accuse of siphoning off the province's resources. But the tsunami has given a new urgency to calls for peace.

Sutarto said his troops would continue providing security for foreign aid workers in Aceh, but his stand-down order is likely to be seen as progress for a military that has shown scant interest in a political settlement to the conflict.

"We are no longer conducting offensive activities to raid GAM bases," he said, referring to the rebels by their Indonesian acronym.

Social Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab, who is overseeing relief operations in Aceh, said on Saturday the government would consider anything except sovereignty for Aceh during upcoming peace talks.

"We will entertain any demand short of independence," he said.

Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda on Sunday reiterated a government offer of broad autonomy for the province.

"With the disaster, the need to solve this problem has become more urgent," he said in an interview on Metro TV.

"Therefore there is a need to sit together and talk toward reconciliation aimed at finding a final solution, with GAM accepting autonomy as a final outcome."

He said the rebels had expressed a willingness to talk in "behind the scenes" contacts.

Rebel spokesman Abdullah said his side was eager but only if the terms were acceptable.

"We have always said we're not going to close our door for dialogue but it has to be sustainable and agreeable for both parties. It takes two to tango."

Almost one month after the disaster, Indonesia's health ministry revised upwards the country's death toll yet again by 7,000 to 173,981. But there was confusion over the true figure, which officials say may never be known.

The social affairs ministry said 110,229 people had been confirmed killed, with 12,070 unaccounted for.

Shihab said the latest number of confirmed dead and buried was 93,482, with another 132,172 believed killed, missing or fled. He said the government was working on providing a single information centre on the casualties.

Shihab said the emergency relief phase was now winding down, allowing foreign troops to exit.

"The emergency state is almost behind us. So the (foreign) military will no longer be effective to give a contribution," he said.

"We are now opening up isolated areas through ground access so we don't need more helicopters to fly. We need more pick-ups (trucks) to go around."

The United States, whose helicopters and warships have been at the forefront of the humanitarian response, has already announced that it was scaling down its military operations in Aceh.

Captain Larry Burt, commander of the air wing aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln that has been stationed just off the provincial capital Banda Aceh, said the navy was preparing a phased pull-out.

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