The Free Aceh Movement (, GAM; ) was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region of Sumatra, Indonesia. GAM fought against Indonesian government forces in the Aceh insurgency from 1976 to 2005, during which over 15,000 lives are believed to have been lost. The organisation surrendered its separatist intentions and dissolved its armed wing following 2005 peace agreement with the Indonesian government, and subsequently changed its name into Aceh Transition Committee (, KPA). The Indonesian government called the group the Aceh Security Disturbance Movement. Background The conflict in Aceh stems from several major factors including historical mistreatment, disagreements over Islamic law, discontent over the distribution of Aceh's natural resource wealth, and the increase in the numbers of Javanese people in Aceh. During the era of Dutch colonisation in the 1800s Aceh was a centre of resistance against Dutch colonial rule. They were one of the last Indonesian peoples to succumb to colonial rule and only after a brutal 30-year campaign, the Aceh War of 1873–1903. When the Netherlands transferred sovereignty of their colonial territory, administration of Aceh was handed over to Indonesia and GAM claims that this was done without consultation with Acehnese authorities. Daud Bereueh mounted an armed rebellion that ended with Aceh being granted special status by President Sukarno. However, President Sukarno have not allowed Aceh to implement sharia law during his reign (1945-1967) due to his strong belief of separation of church and state. Motivated by discovery of large gas reserves in Lhokseumawe, a former Darul Islam "foreign minister", Hasan di Tiro established the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) in December 1976. The small movement carried out its first attack on Mobil engineers in 1977, killing one American engineer. Due to this incident, GAM came under the attention of central government who sent small units of counter-insurgency troops that successfully crushed the movement. Di Tiro was nearly killed and was forced to flee to Malaysia while all members of his cabinet were either killed or forced to flee abroad by 1979. Guerrilla war Since its inception GAM has gone through three stages or three rises and falls. The first was at its birth in 1976 to the year 1979 when it was almost wiped out. The second rise and fall was in 1989 to the early 90s when it received funding and training from foreign countries. The third rise was a result of finally