On December 26, 2004, the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami struck the coast of the Indonesian province of Aceh, killing approximately 160,000 persons. Eight months later, on August 15, 2005, representatives of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the government of Indonesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), ending an armed conflict that had ravaged civilian communities for more than two decades. In this chapter, I focus on conflict affected populations in the hills of Aceh, most of whom were beyond the reach of the tsunami’s direct destruction. In particular, I address the gendered dimensions of traumatic experiences related to years of civil insecurity and armed combat. Women living in high conflict affected areas were not only exposed to combat and conflict, as were men; many were tortured physically and psychologically and humiliated. Women were also, however, protectors of their male kin, buffering their men from the military forces who hunted them. The stories women told of bravery and resilience, of defending their men, children, houses, and land during the conflict, resonate with the symbolic role of the women warriors of Aceh in times past and raise profound questions for contemporary women. What might their future hold, even as now they engage in trauma resolution, return to economically productive activities, and participate in the often-harsh gender politics of postconflict peace?

The generation-long conflict (1976–2005) between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) was resolved with a remarkably effective Memorandum of Understanding, signed in Helsinki on August 15, 2005. The peace agreement between GAM and the Indonesian government granted exceptional measures of political autonomy to Aceh including the right to establish local political parties and the withdrawal of nonorganic military troops and police brigades, in exchange for the disarmament and demobilization of GAM’s armed wing, the TNA (Aceh Armed Forces), thereby ending GAM’s struggle for independence. Acehnese greeted the MOU initiated peace with cautiously hopeful expectations for the future, followed by a rising euphoria, a sense of freedom and excitement, as direct elections were held and local political parties were formed. The era began with demilitarization, demobilization, and reintegration of combatants. GAM combatants returned to their villages and homes. TNI soldiers were no longer on patrol in villages or at checkpoints on the byways and major highways.