Jubilee Campaign USA, August 19, 2002
Desperate Plight of Sulawesi's Christians
Dear Friends,
August 16th 2002 As part of an escalating offensive, 2 Christian villages in Central
Sulawesi, Indonesia, were attacked by Islamic militants on Thursday August 15.
Taliwan village was attacked at around 6.30 p.m and 3 civilians were shot. The
Indonesian army responded quickly on this occasion and managed to stop the attack.
At about the same time a group of over 50 Islamic fighters dressed in black attacked
Manyomba village and killed a 3 year old Christian boy. The attackers are suspected
to have come from Korontowu village where the extremist Islamic group, the Laskar
Jihad, are based.
The Laskar Jihad are made up of fighters from other provinces of Indonesia and even
include militants from Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are believed to have links with
the terrorist Al-Qaeda network and in December 2001 the head of Indonesia's national
intelligence agency, Lieutenant General Hendropriyono publicly confirmed that
Al-Qaeda members were present in Central Sulawesi fighting the Christians. He later
retracted this statement as a result of pressure from fundamentalist politicians but not
because he got his facts wrong.
The Laskar Jihad have been waging a campaign of violence against Christians in the
Moluccas and Sulawesi and are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Christians.
In 2000 they announced that they were going to the Moluccas islands to wage a Jihad
or so-called holy war against the Christians there. The Indonesian authorities did
nothing to stop them and Laskar Jihad's invasion of the Moluccas caused
unprecedented levels of violence in those islands.
In 1999 when the Moluccas conflict first began, the human rights group, Jubilee
Campaign, warned that this sectarian violence was part of an overall strategy of forced
Islamicisation and that if the militants were not stopped the violence would spread to
other parts of Indonesia, especially where there were sizeable Christian communities.
Since then the conflict has spread to the neighbouring province of Sulawesi and in the
predominantly Christian province of West Papua, human rights workers have reported
that there are currently about 3000 Laskar Jihad fighters there. 5000 to 7000
Christians have also been forced to convert to Islam in the Moluccas in Buru, Seram
and the Bacan islands. This is an obvious indication of the Laskar Jihad's strategy of
forced islamicisation. Until now the Indonesian authorities have yet to evacuate these
forced converts to a place of safety where they can revert back to their Christian faith.
On several occasions the Indonesian military and police have failed to act neutrally to
enforce the peace and have instead joined in the attacks against Christians. The
Malino peace agreements were signed late last year and at the beginning of 2002 in
an attempt to end Muslim-Christian conflict in the Moluccas and Sulawesi but so far
the Laskar Jihad remain heavily armed in both regions and show no intention of
abiding by these peace agreements.
The 2 recent attacks against Christian villages in Central Sulawesi are only the latest
in a series of escalating attacks against Christians in Central Sulawesi. On August 13
Christians in Sulawesi sent out an urgent appeal for help, stating that they could hear
gunshots and bomb blasts repeatedly coming from the area around Ranononcu
bridge, on the road to Tentena. In Tentena there are currently over 28,000 Christians.
Most of them were displaced from their homes in the surrounding region after Islamic
militants attacked and destroyed their villages and they have been forced to seek
refuge in Tentena.
On November 18 2001, the Laskar Jihad and their allies fought the Christians at
Ranononcu bridge in an attempt to capture the area as part of their plan to attack
Tentena. After a 6 hour battle the Islamic militants were beaten and withdrew. It
appears that the Laskar Jihad are once again preparing to mount a large offensive to
capture the bridge in an attempt to take Tentena. If they succeed in attacking Tentena
there will probably be terrible massacres of the Christians.
On the evening of Monday, 12 August 2002, about 6:30 pm local time, the Christian
village of Sepe was attacked. The people of Sepe fled, with some of the men
remaining behind in a failed attempt to defend their village with primitive weapons,
including machetes, sickles and sharpened bamboo. Their Muslim attackers were
much better armed and used automatic weapons. According to Rev.Vence Waani,
Pastor of the Pentecostal Church in Sepe, the situation at the moment is menacing.
Rev. Waani said, "The sounds of automatic weapons were coming from all directions,
mixed with the hysterical shouting of mothers, the weeping and shrieking of children,
the glow and flames of fire from the burning houses all blending into one scene of
horror."
By approximately 8.30 am on Tuesday August 13th, the village of Sepe was totally
burned down, along with two churches, by the Muslim militants. After succeeding in
burning Sepe to the ground, the Laskar Jihad fighters advanced to the village of
Silanca where they continued their campaign of terror, shooting, plundering and
burning down the village. At least 4 Christians were killed during this attack.
According to the Christians the Laskar Jihad appear to be attempting to destroy all
the pockets of Christians between them and their primary objective, Tentena. As the
last Christian stronghold in Central Sulawesi, Tentena is a key objective which the
Islamic extremists want to capture.
Jubilee Campaign is mobilising Parliamentarians and US Congressmen to put strong
pressure on the Indonesian authorities to ensure that more troops and police are sent
to Central Sulawesi and that these security forces act neutrally. Jubilee's Researcher
and Parliamentary Officer in Britain, Wilfred Wong, says, "The situation in Central
Sulawesi is very critical. It looks like the Islamic extremists want to finish off Central
Sulawesi's Christian community once and for all. More police and troops are needed
to restore order but they must act neutrally and not take sides. Pray for peace and for
the attacks to stop."
Sincerely,
Ann Buwalda
Jubilee Campaign USA
email: jubilee@jubileecampaign.org
voice: 703-503-0791
web: http://www.jubileecampaign.org
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