The Sydney Morning Herald, April 30, 2004
Army denies inflaming Ambon violence
Indonesia's military yesterday denied allegations that soldiers had taken part in an
attack on a church in the eastern city of Ambon, which has been racked by five days
of Muslim-Christian violence.
Witnesses said uniformed infantrymen fired into the air before ordering seven families
living close to the city's Protestant church to leave their houses early on Wednesday.
Minutes later, unidentified men torched their homes and the church.
The claims - the latest in a string involving the poorly trained military - have angered
Christians in the Maluku islands capital, where 34 people have been killed since
Sunday.
The Ambon military commander, Colonel Tony Husodo, said: "Soldiers were in no
way involved in that attack."
Asked why the villagers would lie, he said it was because their "education levels"
were poor.
Hours after the church was burned, about 100 Christians demonstrated outside police
headquarters, demanding that troops should be withdrawn from the province. A police
officer joined in the protest, at one point shouting "expel the army".
Sporadic gunfire rang out across the seaside city, but there were no reports of big
clashes, and President Megawati Soekarnoputri's eldest daughter took the
opportunity to visit refugee shelters. Puan Maharani, guarded by four armoured
personnel carriers, handed out medicines at the Al Fatah Hospital.
Associated Press, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Copyright © 2004. The Sydney Morning Herald.
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