AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Tuesday December 4, 2001 1:19 PM
Fear grips troubled Central Sulawesi after Muslim-Christian
clashes
Tens of thousands of people in a mainly Christian district of Indonesia's Central
Sulawesi province are living in fear after renewed clashes between Muslims and
Christians in which whole villages were destroyed.
"People in Tentena and the surrounding areas are now living in fear of more violence.
There is no sense of security left," said Father Jimmy Tumbelaka from the Catholic
church in the lakeside town of Tentena on Tuesday.
Armed Muslim groups last week attacked or destroyed seven Christian villages in the
area around Tentena and Poso town, which is 40 km (25 miles) to the north of
Tentena.
Tumbelaka said some 32,000 people lived in mainly Christian areas in and around
Tentena plus more than 13,000 refugees from other parts of Poso district who had
sought safety there since May 2000.
"We have seen villages being attacked with impunity, with the security personnel
helpless or even not present," Tumbelaka told AFP.
The violence between armed Muslim and Christian groups erupted in Poso last year
and has left more than 300 people killed and tens of thousands homeless.
Police reported no new clashes since early Sunday.
Top Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Monday the government
would send some 2,600 extra troops and police to end the violence and search for
weapons and for "any individual or organisation who is not supposed to be in Poso"
The Laskar Jihad (Jihad Force) -- a militant Muslim organisation based in Central Java
which has battled Christians in the Malukus -- has claimed to have sent thousands of
fighters to the Poso district to help the Muslims.
Yudhoyono also said he would visit the area Tuesday. Provincial officials said the visit
had been rescheduled for Wednesday but gave no explanation.
Tumbelaka said peace returned to the region after the flare-up which began in May
2000 but the arrival of elements from outside the province had sparked renewed
violence.
"I will not name them since I have never seen them myself, but monitoring of radio
communications between the warring groups has shown the use of the Javanese
language and codenames using names of mountains in Java such as the Semeru,"
Tumbelaka said.
Michael Elmquist, deputy United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, said last week
that possibly up to 7,000 members of Laskar Jihad had moved to Poso.
"We call on the authority to halt the violence in Central Sulawesi, to return peace and
also expel these foreigners from the province," Tumbelaka said.
In the most recent violence Muslim groups attacked Sepe village near Tentena on
Saturday evening, wounding at least four soldiers.
The Muslim camp accuses the military of having abducted six Muslims during the
violence in Sepe, said provincial police spokesman, Adjunct Senior Commissioner
Agus Sugianto.
"They have accused our men (security personnel) of having abducted six Muslims but
this is mere speculation and so far we have no report of our men arresting these six,"
Sugianto said.
He said the whereabouts of the six remained unknown but they could have fled in
forest areas to escape violence and got lost.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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