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New Delhi (AFP) Feb 10, 2011 One of India's oldest rebel groups opened its first formal peace talks with the government on Thursday aimed at ending three decades of deadly insurgency in the remote northeast state of Assam. The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has been fighting for an independent homeland for ethnic Assamese since 1979. ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa led the group at the talks in New Delhi while the government delegation was headed by home secretary G.K. Pillai, officials said. "We are very optimistic about the talks and we sincerely hope the negotiations will pave the way for bringing permanent peace in Assam," Rajkhowa told AFP. ULFA announced last weekend it was ready for "unconditional" peace talks with New Delhi in a bid to end the insurgency and that it expected to find "a mutually acceptable solution." Most of the group's leaders had been released from jail on bail ahead of the talks. "This is a historic moment as the people of Assam have been craving peace," Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi told AFP. At least 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in Assam because of fighting between government forces and the various rebel groups. ULFA's renegade commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah, who is in hiding, has rejected the talks. India has been wracked by separatist conflicts since its independence from Britain in 1947, with violent insurgencies in its northwestern Kashmir region and the northeast.
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