ABC AUSTRALIA, Sunday, April 25, 2004. 11:15pm (AEST)
Twelve dead, scores wounded in Indonesia clashes
[Photo: A building burns as Christians and Muslims clash in Ambon, Indonesia.
(Reuters)]
At least 12 people have died and scores were wounded as Muslim-Christian violence
erupted in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon, witnesses and hospital staff said.
A United Nations office was also set ablaze in one of the worst outbreaks of violence
since a peace pact in February 2002 ended three years of sectarian battles in parts of
the Maluku islands in which some 5,000 people died.
About 200 police reinforcements are expected to arrive early Monday, said Maluku
Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu after the clashes, which followed a parade by mainly
Christian separatists through the city.
Rivai Ambon, head of the Al Fatah hospital in the city of the same name, told Tempo
online news service that 47 people were admitted to his hospital and eight of them
died from gunshot wounds.
Two people died of gunshot wounds and one suffered a fatal heart attack at the
Haulussi general hospital, while one schoolgirl was dead with gunshot wounds at the
Bakti Rahayu hospital, staff said earlier.
Houses on each side of the boundary between Christian and Muslim sectors were
quickly emptying, with people packing their belongings and fleeing to safer areas.
Others, fearing more conflict ahead, were queuing at shops to buy essentials like
instant noodles and kerosene.
Mosque loudspeakers in Ambon, which still has burnt-out buildings and other scars
from the earlier violence, were chanting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), a local
journalist said.
The UN mission and several cars parked there were set ablaze. Mr Ralahalu said a
large hotel and a church were also set on fire but not destroyed.
The Governor, quoted by local radio, said violence was not sectarian but between
independence supporters and their opponents.
Maluku police chief Bambang Sutrisno told residents to stay home after dark.
"We are calling on people not to leave their homes after 6 pm," he said on television.
"We should all work to keep Maluku stable."
Residents said shots and explosions died away after dusk. Police and soldiers were
patrolling the streets and guarding key sites.
Police said some 20 people had been detained, mainly members of the
pro-independence Front for Maluku's Sovereignty, for displaying the banned separatist
flag.
Trouble began after the group defied a longstanding ban and staged a street convoy,
carrying flags to mark the 54th anniversary of the proclamation of a self-styled South
Maluku Republic.
They traded jeers, insults and stones with mainly Muslim opponents, witnesses said.
One resident said police intervened and tried to steer the convoy towards police
headquarters.
A mainly Muslim crowd that believed police were merely escorting the procession
began to pelt the officers with stones, the resident said.
Din Kelilau, a local Muslim activist, said police responded with shots. It was not
immediately clear whether these were warning shots or aimed at the crowd.
Mr Ralahalu, however, said separatists were returning from police headquarters when
trouble broke out. They were protesting the arrest earlier in the day of their secretary
general Moses Tuwanakotta.
Patrick Sweeting, local head of the United Nations Development Program's crisis
prevention unit, said in Jakarta he had no information on how badly the UN building
had been damaged but all UN staff were safe and had been moved to a hotel in the
city.
He said UNDP has five staffers in the city and other UN agencies have about another
10.
"Things were going so well in terms of reconciliation and people getting back to
peaceful activities," he said. "It's a great shame."
-- AFP
© 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
