JRS - Indonesia, 4 May 2004
JRS Dispatches No. 149
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS
Indonesia: twenty-five dead, scores wounded in Ambon clashes
By Sunday 2 May at least 34 people had died, scores more were injured and over
10,000 were displaced as Muslim-Christian violence erupted in the eastern Indonesian
city of Ambon, according to local witnesses.
A United Nations office was also set ablaze in one of the worst outbreaks of violence
since a peace agreement in February 2002 ended three years of sectarian violence in
parts of the Maluku islands in which some 5,000 people died. The Governor, quoted
by local radio, said violence was not sectarian but between independence supporters
and their opponents.
Police and soldiers are patrolling the streets and guarding key sites. They have
detained a number of mainly members of the pro-independence Front for Maluku's
Sovereignty, for displaying the banned separatist flag. Trouble began on Sunday 25
April after the group defied a longstanding ban and staged a street convoy, carrying
flags to mark the 54th anniversary of the proclamation of a self-styled South Maluku
Republic.
One resident said police intervened and tried to steer the convoy towards police
headquarters. A mainly Muslim crowd, that believed police were merely escorting the
procession, began to pelt the officers with stones, the resident said.
Din Kelilau, a local Muslim activist, said police responded with shots. It was not
immediately clear whether these were warning shots or aimed at the crowd.
"Things were going so well in terms of reconciliation ... It's a great shame," said Mr.
Patrick Sweeting, local head of the United Nations Development Programme's crisis
prevention unit.
JRS Indonesia Country office, based in Jakarta, is in constant contact with the staff in
the Moluccas islands. Most have already been evacuated and others are on stand-by
should the security situation deteriorates. JRS Indonesia has a number of education,
emergency assistance, health, income-generating and advocacy programmes in the
Moluccas islands. These programme provide assistance to over 20,000 individuals,
including children.
Source URL: http://www.reliefweb.int and http://www.jesref.org
© Jesuit Refugee Service Indonesia 2002
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