2001–02 the combination of military and police forces in Aceh had grown to about 30,000. In one year this number jumped to 50,000 operating in what the International Crisis group called, "a virtual legal vacuum". The security crackdowns during this time resulted in several thousand civilian deaths. The government launched a large 2003–04 Indonesian offensive in Aceh against the GAM in 2003 with some success. Peace negotiations The leaders of GAM, Hasan di Tiro, and his chief deputy, Zaini Abdullah, and Malik Mahmud lived in exile in Stockholm, Sweden for most of the 1980s and 1990s. The group's main Indonesian spokesman was Abdullah Syafei'i Dimatang. In the late 1990s, GAM began peace talks with Jakarta, brokered by the Swedish government. In 1999, it was reported that the group had split into two factions, GAM (representing the original group) and the Free Aceh Movement Government Council (MP-GAM). This was denied by GAM spokespersons but was widely reported in the Indonesian media. In December 2002, GAM and GoI signed a breakthrough Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) which only held for a few months before violations started occurring. The mediator in these negotiations, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, did not have adequate monitoring and enforcing mechanisms to enact sanctions for violations. In 2002–2004, the GAM was severely hit by a series of government offensives in which the organisation lost approximately 50% of its members including its commander, Abdullah Syafei'i Dimatang, who was killed in a military ambush in January 2002. On 28 December 2004, in the aftermath of the devastation caused by a massive tsunami, GAM declared a ceasefire of hostilities to allow for aid to reach within the disputed area. In turn, the Indonesian government temporarily removed restrictions of northern Sumatra to allow for rescue efforts in that area. Other Aceh separatist groups exist and there was some tension between them and GAM over tactics and GAM's monopoly of negotiations with the government. On 27 February 2005, the Free Aceh Movement and the delegation of the Indonesian government started another round of peace talks in Vantaa, Finland, moderated by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari. On 16 July 2005, the Indonesian Minister of Communication and GAM announced a peace deal to end the thirty-year insurgency. The peace agreement was officially signed on 15 August 2005 in the Finnish Government Banquet Hall in Helsinki by chief Indonesian negotiator Hamid Awaluddin and GAM leader Malik