AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Monday April 1, 2002 4:42 PM
Indonesia delays Maluku weapons collection by one month
JAKARTA, April 1 (AFP) - Authorities in the eastern Indonesian province of Maluku
have decided to postpone by one month the start of an operation to disarm the
population following a peace pact in February, a report said Monday.
The operation was due to start on April 1. Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina told
the Kompas daily more time was needed to publicise the agreement reached between
Muslim and Christian representatives after the government-brokered talks.
The governor said many areas had still not been reached -- either because of their
geographical location or because they were not yet psychologically prepared.
Latuconsina said the decision to postpone the one-month-long disarmament operation
was reached during a recent security coordination meeting in Ambon which was also
attended by top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and top welfare
minister Jusuf Kalla.
He said the postponement would not affect the overall schedule to restore peace. The
talks agreed that nine months after the signing of the peace pact, normalcy should
have returned to the Malukus.
More than 5,000 people were killed and half a million made homeless in
Muslim-Christian clashes in the islands which began in January 1999.
The provincial spokesman's office in Ambon could not immediately be reached for
confirmation of the report.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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