REUTERS, Sun Apr 28, 2002 6:38 AM ET
Attackers kill 12 in Christian area of Indonesia's Ambon
AMBON, Indonesia (Reuters) - Armed attackers raided a Christian neighbourhood in
Indonesia's ravaged city of Ambon on Sunday, killing at least 12 people and raising
fresh doubts about the chances for peace in the troubled Moluccas region.
"The attack broke out early on Sunday in Soya village of Ambon city. They attacked
the village by using home-made bombs and set fire to some of the houses," said a
local journalist who went to the scene.
The reporter quoted residents as saying the pre-dawn attackers were Muslim and
there were dozens of them.
He counted 11 dead, but a second witness who had been to the site told Reuters he
saw at least 12 bodies. Indonesia's official Antara news agency gave the same figure
and said six people were wounded.
The attack occurred around 4 a.m. on Sunday (2000 GMT Saturday) as people were
still asleep. The number of known casualties could increase as residents search for
victims under the debris of destroyed houses, Antara said.
The second witness said residents reported some of the attackers were armed with
military weapons and were wearing camouflage-style uniforms.
The military denied any involvement. "The people should understand that any rioters
could use TNI (Indonesia's military) attributes. Such action is an effort to discredit the
TNI," Antara quoted a military spokesman, Herry Suhardy, as saying.
Indonesia has suffered a series of religious, ethnic and separatist conflicts since the
autocratic Suharto (news - web sites) resigned from the presidency in 1998, bringing
tensions to the surface that were largely restrained under his iron-fisted rule.
Sunday's incident is the latest in several days of fresh trouble in Ambon, the hub of
the eastern Moluccas island chain, and undermines hopes that a peace deal brokered
between Muslims and Christians in February would finally end the strife.
Supporters of President Megawati Sukarnoputri have pointed to the Ambon peace
pact and a similar agreement in the Poso area of Sulawesi as evidence her
government is bringing a measure of stability to the sprawling archipelago.
"MASS" OF ASSAILANTS
Antara said a "mass" of assailants was involved in Sunday's raid and quoted residents
describing them as clad in black, wielding swords and firing guns.
Dozens of police and troops had been deployed to secure the area and most of the
fires had died out by dawn.
Moluccas police chief Brigadier-General Sunarko Danu Artanto confirmed the attack
and said there were casualties, but declined to give a toll and details.
Another police official said one church was burned in the raid.
Over the past three years, at least 5,000 people have been killed in religious violence
in Ambon, some 2,300 km (1,400 miles) east of Jakarta.
Some of the violence has involved para-military units affiliated with various Muslim and
Christian groups.
Security forces fired warning shots on Saturday to disperse protesting Muslims in the
city, wounding one person in a virtual replay of an incident on Friday. Security forces
also dispersed a crowd of at least 1,000 Christians on Saturday in another part of the
city.
SEPARATIST MOVEMENT
The week's turbulence was sparked by the anniversary on Thursday of an
independence declaration by the South Moluccas Republic (RMS), a Christian
separatist group that attempted to raise its banned independence flag in several areas
of the city.
The RMS was founded in 1950 by supporters of Indonesia's former colonial ruler, the
Netherlands. While its membership has dwindled to an estimated 100, many Islamic
groups accuse it of backing attacks on Muslims.
A Jakarta analyst originally from the Moluccas warned that Sunday's violence may
attract more sympathisers to the RMS.
"Not all of the Christians support RMS but I am afraid following the attack there will be
more Christians signing up," sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola told Reuters.
He said there had been attempts to blow up the separatism issue in the Moluccas
following the signing of the peace pact, which had brought a brief respite to religious
conflict there.
"Once the separatist (group) grows larger then it will give the security forces
legitimacy to keep their presence in Ambon to crush them."
Tomagola said some elements in the security forces have benefited from the violence
and would not be happy to see the conflict end.
Critics say some corrupt members of the security forces take what is effectively
protection money from various people, groups and businesses in strife-torn areas like
Ambon.
More than 85 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslim, but Christians
comprise half the population in some eastern areas, such as the Moluccas.
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