KYODO NEWS, May 10, 2002
Ban on foreigners extended in riot-torn Maluku
AMBON, Indonesia, May 10 (Kyodo) - Authorities on Indonesia's riot-torn eastern
islands of Maluku have extended measures to put the islands off-limits to foreigners,
including journalists, an Indonesian government official said Friday.
Spokesman Maj. Martin Luther Djari told reporters the ban, which excludes foreign
government representatives, ''will end when the situation calms down.''
Earlier, the government put the islands off-limits to foreigners from Saturday until the
end of the month in connection with a flag-hoisting ceremony of the separatist South
Maluku Republic (RMS) on April 25.
The extension was made following the killings of 12 Christians by a group of armed
attackers in the Christian area of Soya in the Maluku provincial capital of Ambon on
April 28.
The South Maluku Republic was declared in mid-1950 by former soldiers from Maluku
who had fought for Dutch colonialists and did not want to join the new Republic of
Indonesia.
On April 30, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono said the government is mulling the imposition of martial law in the
once-dubbed Spice Islands if the situation worsens.
Conflict between Christians and Muslims in Maluku has dragged on for three years.
According to official estimates, more than 6,000 Christians and Muslims have been
killed in widespread violence and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to
flee for safety.
In a bid to calm tensions, the government declared a state of civil emergency in
Maluku and North Maluku provinces on June 28, 2000.
A number of peace accords between Christians and Muslims have also been signed
to restore order on the islands, the latest one on Feb. 14.
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