Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Friday, April 26, 2002
Indonesia deploys more police to troubled Maluku
Jakarta, Indonesia beefed up security in the Maluku islands on Friday after fresh
explosions which rocked the conflict-torn archipelago, one day after pro-independence
supporters commemorated their movement's 52th anniversary.
"We have deployed two more companies of Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police to Ambon
this morning," to back up the existing personnel, national police chief General Da'i
Bachtiar told reporters.
Bachtiar confirmed that "two more explosions" occurred this morning in the Karang
Panjang suburb of Ambon, the provincial capital of Maluku, formerly known as the
Moluccas.
The blasts caused no injuries, Bachtiar said.
Maluku's military commander Brigadier General Mustopo said 23 people had been
arrested on Thursday for hoisting South Maluku Republic (RMS) flags and as many as
200 separatist flags were seized.
"Stern action will be taken against anyone else caught hoisting RMS flags as
happened on Thursday," Antara quoted Mustopo as saying.
At least six people were injured either from explosions or gunshot wounds on
Thursday when hundreds of Moslems staged a rally to protest the separatists
flag-flying. The protesters also set a church on fire.
Civil emergency authorities in the Maluku islands banned the hoisting of the RMS flag
on Thursday, marking the separatist movement's 52nd anniversary.
The Maluku islands, known during the Dutch colonial period as the Spice Islands,
have been wracked by clashes between Moslems and Christians for the past three
years, forcing the government to place the province under civil emergency status in
early 2000.
More than 5,000 people have died in sectarian fighting, thousands of others injured
and an estimated 500,000 people left homeless by the unrest.
A government-sponsored peace agreement was signed in February by leaders of both
camps in a bid to end the bloodshed, but has so far failed to prevent a series of
deadly explosions in Ambon. dpa sh pj rk
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