The Jakarta Post, August 14, 2002
Poso tense as six killed in Christian village
La Remy and Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Palu/Jakarta
Tensions engulfed the violence-torn town of Poso in Central Sulawesi on Tuesday after
at least six people were killed and hundreds of houses and two churches set ablaze
in fresh attacks on three Christian villages, just hours after a second round of peace
talks ended.
It clearly proves that the two-day meeting of Muslim and Christian delegates, which
ended on Monday to seek peace in Poso, was eminently ineffective to quell the
violence.
The road to long-lasting peace there appears to have gotten longer as armed
assailants, believed to being carrying automatic guns, roam the area with impunity,
and security authorities claim to know nothing of their identity or whereabouts.
Following the latest violence, many shops there closed and local government officials
chose to stay at home.
Hundreds of heavily armed police and troops were deployed to the three attacked
villages of Sepe, Silanca and Batu Gencu in Lage subdistrict after reports of the
attacks.
The villages, also home to some 1,000 refugees from other areas in Poso, are located
around 12 kilometers east of the town.
Security authorities in Poso warned locals against being provoked by irresponsible
people as residents in Kanyamanya and Lawanga villages were on guard outside their
houses to prevent possible attacks.
Five of those killed in Tuesday's violence were identified as Y. Ombitaka, 60, Eipius
Montorutu, 24, Ndolu Sulelino, 31, Sena Kangea, 32 and Efrata Lagani, 35. All were
killed by gunshot wounds.
At least two other persons were seriously wounded in the incidents.
Another person, named as Cikia from Malei village also in Lage, was found dead with
gunshot wounds on Tuesday and another man, Dolelia from the same village, was
declared missing and was feared dead.
Local church officials and security officers said the attackers were an armed group of
unidentified people, who stormed Sepe, Silanca and Batu Gencu early on Tuesday.
Noldy Tacoh, a secretary with the Crisis Center belonging to the Central Sulawesi
church, however, blamed the attack on police Mobile Brigade troops and said two
churches were also burned in Silanca.
He said a group of 17 Brimob personnel were responsible for the attack on Batu
Gencu.
The police stormed the village through the neighboring village of Toyado to seek their
fellow Brimob member, Pvt. Andi Amir, who was reportedly abducted by local
residents, Noldy added.
Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Zainal Abidin Ishak, who visited Poso, denied
that his personnel were involved in the attack.
Yet, he confirmed a number of Brimob members went through Toyado to search for
Amir, who had not been seen since Sunday. Apparently, they were unable to locate
the missing private.
Adj. Sr. Comr. Agus Sugianto, spokesman for the provincial police, said Batu Gencu
was attacked by gunmen after local villagers rejected a deployment of security forces
there.
"As of late Tuesday evening, villagers in Batu Gencu were refusing to allow the
deployment of security personnel and were blocking all roads leading to the village. To
avoid a clash with these residents, they were pulled back to Poso," he told The
Jakarta Post.
Zainal admitted that the police could not yet identify the gunmen who launched the
attacks.
He said around 3,100 reinforcement personnel from police and military have been
deployed across Poso to help quell the renewed unrest.
"But we still want one more battalion of troops and two companies of police stationed
here," he said.
Both Muslim and Christian delegations, who concluded the second round of peace
talks on Monday, vowed to work together along with police and military forces to help
restore peace.
The talks, held in the provincial capital of Palu, also agreed to declare those involved
in violence as their "common enemies".
However, they failed to identify or reveal the masterminds or perpetrators behind the
spate of recent attacks, mostly launched against Christians, to yield progressive
measures to stop the violence.
The delegates had convened their first round of peace talks last December in the
South Sulawesi hill resort of Malino, which appeared to be effective for a few months
to stop the sectarian fighting.
Meanwhile, CNN reported on Tuesday that an Indonesian intelligence source had
confirmed the presence of an al-Qaeda-linked training camp in Sulawesi.
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