Police said up to 100,000 people were set to pack the historic Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, still bearing the scars of the 2004 tsunami, to greet Free Aceh Movement (GAM) founder Hasan di Tiro, returning after almost 30 years in exile.

Many of the villagers who began pouring into the city from outlying areas on Friday were ex-rebels who gave up their weapons in 2005 under a power-sharing agreement triggered by the tsunami.

The frail 83-year-old arriveD around 10.30 am (0330 GMT, 11.30am Singapore time) from Malaysia, where he met Aceh leaders ahead of his first trip home since he fled to Sweden in 1979.

'The Acehnese people really need to see this legend,' said Mr Ibrahim Syamsuddin, a spokesman for the body tasked with representing the former GAM guerrillas under the peace deal.

'Some people said there was no Hasan di Tiro, others said that he was dead, but at last the people will see that he is real and he is alive.'

Mr Di Tiro's declaration of independence from Indonesia in 1976 sparked a three-decade civil war which claimed some 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 around 170,000 people in the province, that prompted him and other GAM leaders to agree to an 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.

Authorities stepped up security amid concerns that his return could ignite violence - either between Aceh's fractious political parties or against the Indonesian military - as tensions brew ahead of provincial elections in April.

Mr Di Tiro told Indonesian television earlier this week that he supported the peace agreement and just wanted to see his homeland again.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla was due to meet Mr Di Tiro upon his return but he cancelled his trip at the last minute, saying he had to stay in Jakarta due to the crisis in the global financial system.

A spokesman for the Indonesian foreign ministry on Friday characterised the homecoming as a 'social visit' and said Jakarta had gone the 'extra mile to assist'.

But he also revealed Jakarta's sensitivity over Mr Di Tiro's visit, saying no one should confuse Aceh with Papua province where activists still face life in jail for waving the Papuan separatist flag.

'We would not want to compare Aceh and Papua... We have closed the chapter of the separatist movement (in Aceh) and we no longer talk about it as an issue,' the spokesman, Teuku Faizasyah, said.

Pickup trucks packed with farmers and ex-guerrillas began pouring into Banda Aceh on Thursday bearing flags of the Aceh Party, the disbanded GAM's new political vehicle which is expected to dominate parliament after the polls.

Officials from other parties said they hoped Mr Di Tiro would use his two-week stay to strengthen the peace process, which is being tested by political intimidation, dissatisfaction among ex-combatants and dwindling aid.

Deputy Governor and SIRA party chief Mohammed Nazar dismissed concerns that Mr Di Tiro's homecoming would turn into an election rally for the Aceh Party.

'He will have no influence on the elections because he left Aceh many years ago', he said.

Mr Di Tiro will travel to his home village of Tiro in Pidie district, east of the provincial capital, on Sunday. -- AFP