JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian government began releasing more than 1,400 captured Aceh independence fighters yesterday as it moved to implement a peace accord aimed at ending nearly 30 years of war in the battered province.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, taking the first step to carry out the agreement, granted a blanket amnesty to the rebels, including those imprisoned for treason and any exiled leaders willing to reclaim Indonesian citizenship.

"This is something spectacular," said Amni Ahmad Marzuki, a former rebel negotiator who was released after serving more than two years in prison. "The violence of the past 30 years brought us nowhere, while talking heart-to-heart for six months has produced peace as the solution."

The amnesty decree and release of prisoners triggered celebrations in Aceh, where many residents hope the agreement will lead to a lasting peace.

The next critical step will come in mid-September, when rebels camped in the jungles are expected to begin turning in weapons.

In a speech to newspaper editors this week, Yudhoyono called the peace agreement an "incredible breakthrough." The president, who took office 10 months ago, said he never imagined peace could be reached so quickly with the Free Aceh Movement, known by its Indonesian acronym GAM.

"The reintegration of former GAM members into Indonesian society will make Indonesia more united and strong," he said.

The international spotlight cast on Aceh after last year's tsunami disaster, which destroyed half the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, helped revive peace negotiations.

At the time, the region was under military rule, after a U.S.-backed peace effort unraveled in 2003. The Indonesian government arrested five of the rebel negotiators, including Marzuki. They were to have served a term ending in 2016.

Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, once was a powerful state and maintained its independence by fighting the Dutch for nearly 100 years. Aceh was incorporated into Indonesia when the Dutch withdrew from the region after World War II, but many Acehnese never accepted their new nationality.

Rebels began fighting for independence from Indonesia in 1976 and more than 15,000 died in the ensuing war.

During talks in Finland this year, the rebels reluctantly agreed to give up their bid for independence in exchange for autonomy and a 70 percent share of government revenues produced by the region.

Under the president's decree, the amnesty will be extended to all Free Aceh Movement members except those who committed nonpolitical crimes or who continue to take up arms.

Rebels outside the country who gave up their Indonesian citizenship, including the exiled leadership in Sweden, will have six months to renounce any foreign citizenship and formally declare loyalty to Indonesia.

The president signed the decree Tuesday, and the release of prisoners began yesterday. More than 74 inmates who had been held at Sukamiskin Prison in Bandung were taken 110 miles by bus to the Jakarta airport before dawn and put on a plane to Aceh.

"I am very optimistic," said Nashiruddin Achmad, one of the arrested negotiators. "We have the seed of democracy, and we have to nurture it. It's our responsibility."