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Muslim fighters say they will stay in troubled Indonesian province
AP Tue, 30 Jan 2001-A paramilitary Muslim group accused of fighting Christians in Indonesia's Maluku islands said Tuesday it has no plans to leave the troubled province.
"We will not withdraw until the Muslim community there feels truly safe," said Jafar Umar Thalin, the commander of the Laskar Jihad or Holy War Troop.
The group traveled to the region from its base on Indonesia's main island of Java last April, saying local Muslims needed defending from Christian attacks.
The conflict has intensified since the arrival of the 3,000 strong-force, and local government officials have blamed it for some of the most bloody incidents.
About 5,000 people of both faiths have died in the province since violence first broke out in January 1999.
The region, about 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) northeast of Jakarta, was once held up as a model of communal harmony.
Thalin told journalists that recent peace talks between the two faiths had failed. He accused Christian leaders in the province of treachery.
"Up until now we have not yet met a Christian who can represent their community's desire for peace," he said.
He also accused Indonesia's military of taking sides in the conflict, saying that earlier this month soldiers shot to death 14 Muslims in clashes.
Thalin denied allegations that the force, which also runs a clinic and a radio station, was funded and trained by senior army commanders loyal to former dictator Suharto.
Analysts have charged that military hard-liners are trying to create trouble for the 15-month administration of President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Indonesia is overwhelmingly Muslim though there is a significant Christian minority. In Maluku the two faiths are almost equal in number.
Sectarian tensions in the country have risen since a wave of bombs exploded outside Christian churches throughout the country on Christmas Eve, killing 19 people.
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