BANDA ACEH: The founder of Aceh's separatist rebel movement made an emotional homecoming Saturday after nearly 30 years in exile and a war that killed thousands of people.

Free Aceh Movement (GAM) founder Hassan di Tiro was greeted by thousands of cheering supporters and former guerrillas as he flew into the capital of the war-torn and tsunami-scarred Indonesian province.

"People have come from all over Aceh. They are happy to be here just to see (di Tiro) for that split minute. His heart has always been in Aceh," said Bakhtiar Abdullah, a former GAM negotiator who was jailed by the Indonesians.

"There are people who were very loyal to him who would die for him, and they have never seen him before. They are still loyal to him and they would do anything for him," Abdullah said.

A frail-looking and teary di Tiro embraced his elderly sister and was helped down the steps of the plane by aides before being presented with garlands by Acehnese in traditional dress.

Di Tiro, 83, kissed the ground after being helped to kneel on an Islamic prayer mat on the tarmac.

It is the first time the former rebel leader has set foot on home soil since he fled abroad for Sweden in 1979.

Di Tiro's declaration of independence from Indonesia in 1976 sparked a three-decade civil war that claimed 15,000 lives and left deeply Islamic Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, in ruins.

But it was the terrible devastation of the Asian tsunami, which killed about 170,000 people in the province, that prompted him and other GAM leaders to agree to an 2005 autonomy pact with Indonesia.

That deal was brokered in part by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to bring peace to Aceh and other conflict zones.

"For 30 years I haven't seen him. I want to talk to him about how to build a better Aceh because we have suffered so much after 30 years of conflict," said Aburrahman, a cousin of di Tiro.