Tragedy offers chance for peace
 |  Sri Lankans unload aid boxes containing drinking water Friday near Galle. |
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 Aerial pictures show massive damage, few signs of life on western tip of Aceh province
 Sri Lankan officials are asking people to stay calm
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UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The deadly tsunamis that destroyed large swaths of southern Asia could provide a chance for two civil wars in the region to at last come to an end, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell have said.
In Indonesia's Aceh province and in Sri Lanka, rebel leaders have vowed to work together with governments to provide critical support.
"We hope that this offers an opportunity both in Aceh and in Sri Lanka, and that the protagonists are now working together to bring support to those in need," Annan said at a news conference with Powell.
"And I hope that collaboration is not going to end with the crisis, and that they will be able to build on that and use this new dynamics to resolve their own differences, and we will be encouraging that.
"Let's see this as an opportunity."
Said Powell, "I second what the secretary general said. Let's see this as an opportunity to resolve these two long-running crises."
In Aceh, racked by years of civil strife, people from warring factions have been seen working together, and rebel groups ordered a cease-fire against the military.
Yet some rebels have expressed concerns that the relative peace may not last.
In Sri Lanka, where civil war has lasted more than two decades, the government and leaders of the Tamil Tiger rebels have promised cooperation.
Still, rebel leaders, who control much of the north and east, have complained the government is neglecting their region.
