AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Tuesday January 29, 2002 4:39 PM
Indonesia to host talks to end Muslim-Christian fighting in
Malukus
JAKARTA, Jan 29 (AFP) - The Indonesian government will host talks next week
between Muslim and Christian leaders to try to end three years of sectarian violence
in the Maluku eastern island chain in which some 5,000 have died, it was announced
Tuesday.
The talks would be held on February 6-7 in the South Sulawesi hill resort of Malino
following the success of similar talks there last month to end sectarian unrest in
Central Sulawesi, Antara news agency reported.
It said the talks would be sponsored by top security minister Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, who last week visited the Malukus, east of Sulawesi, to investigate ways
to end the violence.
Thamrin Ely, a leader of the Muslim community in the Malukus, said a 35-strong
Muslim delegation had already left for Malino and a similar number of Christian
representatives would leave on Wednesday.
Ely said the Laskar Jihad, a Java-based militant Muslim group which has sent "holy
war" fighters to the Malukus, would also be included in the talks.
Ely said the Laskar Jihad's involvement was part of an agreement between the
government team led by Yudhoyono and the two camps last week.
The unrest broke out in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, following a trivial
dispute in January 1999. Apart from the killings, more than half a million people were
forced from their homes.
Antara said the peace talks would seek an agreement on halting the violence, forming
an acceptable basis for a judicial process, setting up a team of peace monitors and
starting a repatriation program for the refugees.
The talks at Malino last month, between Muslim and Christian delegations from Poso
district in Central Sulawesi province, ended with agreement to halt more than two
years of intermittent clashes that left hundreds dead.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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