AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Sunday January 27, 2002 1:01 PM
Blasts, gunshots heard in riot-hit Indonesian city
JAKARTA, Jan 27 (AFP) - Blasts and gunshots rang in the riot-torn eastern
Indonesian city of Ambon, a few hours after two government ministers visited it to
assess peace efforts, a report said Sunday.
The blasts and the gunfire were heard in several areas overnightbut there was no
report of casualty, the official Antara news agency said.
The incidents took place only hours after senior security minister Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono and senior welfare minister Jusuf Kalla ended a day's visit to evaluate
peace efforts, including the working of a civil emergency imposed last year.
Yudhoyono met public figures on the search for peace, to review the state of
emergency imposed on Maluku and North Maluku provinces, and see whether current
peace efforts are being conducted properly.
Fighting between Muslims and Christians in the Maluku islands has left more than
5,000 people dead and created 500,000 refugees since violence first erupted in
Ambon, on the island of the same name, in January 1999.
Laskar Jihad, a paramilitary Islamic group, has been blamed for the worsening
conflict. Its militants began arriving in large numbers in May 2000, apparently
unhindered by security forces.
The violence had abated recently.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
|
