"I have to extend my highest appreciation, because they remain committed to their obligations and committed to the peace process itself," said Major General Bambang Darmono.

Celebrations marking the conflict would have run counter to an August peace deal with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Darmono, Jakarta's chief representative with the Aceh Monitoring Mission, told ElShinta private radio.

The tsunami-hit province in northwestern Sumatra remained calm Sunday, said police and army officials.

Aceh police chief Bahrumsyah Kasman told AFP he was touring Aceh by helicopter Sunday and that so far there had been no reports of any anniversary celebration by the GAM.

"Everything is as usual, and so far, from our monitoring, there are no commemorations of the anniversary," said Aceh military spokesman Eri Sutiko.

The only gatherings by former rebels on Sunday was reported in Langsa, East Aceh, and in Bireuen district, where local GAM authorities held traditional thanksgiving feasts at local mosques.

On August 15, the GAM signed a peace pact with the Indonesian government in which they dropped their demand for independence in return for a form of local government in Aceh, a province of about four million people.

Observers see the August agreement reached in Helsinki as the best chance yet of ending the conflict which has claimed about 15,000 lives, most of them civilians, since GAM began its struggle for an independent state in 1976.

The peace pact was spurred by the December 2004 tsunami disaster, which left 131,000 people dead in Aceh.

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