The Star Online [Malaysia], Sunday, April 25, 2004
10 killed as Muslims, Christians fight in Indonesia's Maluku
islands
AMBON, Indonesia: Muslim and Christian gangs fought running battles in Indonesia's
Maluku islands on Sunday, leaving at least 10 people dead, including two youths who
were hacked to death by sword-wielding men, witnesses and officials said.
More than 50 people were injured in the clashes in the provincial capital Ambon,
hospital officials said. At least three buildings were set ablaze, including an office
housing U.N. agencies working in the region, witnesses and a spokesman for the
world body in Jakarta said. There were no reports of U.N. staffers being injured.
More than 9,000 people were killed in the Malukus between 1991 and 2001 in fighting
between Muslims and Christians that attracted Islamic militants from all over
Southeast Asia.
The two groups signed a government sponsored peace pact in 2002, but sporadic
violence between them has continued and they now live in separate communities.
Sunday's clashes occurred after around a dozen members of the region's small
Christian separatist movement paraded through Ambon to mark the anniversary of a
failed independence bid 54 years ago.
Gangs of Muslim and Christian youths hurled rocks at each other in the center of the
city, witnesses said, and gunfire was heard throughout the afternoon. Several small
explosions rocked the city.
Eight bodies - most of them with gunshot wounds - were taken to the city's Al-Fatah
hospital, the hospital's director Dr. Riva Ambon said.
It was unclear who shot them. Witnesses said police and army were firing to disperse
the rioters. There were also reports of unidentified gunmen firing from tall buildings in
the city.
An Associated Press reporter saw a gang of around 50 people armed with swords and
sticks hack two men to death close to the city's Pattimura University. The victims'
bodies were left lying in the street. Their religious affiliation was not known.
More than 50 people were being treated for injuries in at least four hospitals in the
city. Some were in a serious condition, medical staffers said.
Military spokesman Maj. Paimam confirmed that unrest had broken out in the city,
and that several people had been injured. Paimam, who goes by a single name, gave
no more details.
Efforts by Christian separatists to campaign for independence are regarded as a
provocation by Muslims in the province, and police had vowed to stop them marking
Sunday's anniversary.
Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, but South Maluku's two million people are evenly
divided between Muslims and Christians.
The Malukus are 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) east of Jakarta. Known as the Spice
Islands during Dutch colonial days, the islands were once held up as a model of
religious harmony. - AP
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