Laksamana.Net, February 1, 2002 07:11 PM
Maluku Peace Talks Delayed
Laksamana.Net - Peace talks between warring Christians and Muslims in the Maluku
islands have been postponed until after Coordinating Minister for Social Affairs Jusuf
Kalla visits next week.
Kalla on Friday (1/2/02) said he remained hopeful of reconciliation between the feuding
factions, although more time was needed to assess the situation in the ravaged
islands.
I will go there next week and meet several parties, he was quoted as saying by
Reuters.
The opening round of the government-hosted talks had been scheduled for February
6-7 in the mountain resort of Malino, South Sulawesi, where a peace agreement for a
similar sectarian conflict in Poso, Central Sulawesi province, was signed last
December.
Kalla did not say when the talks would now be held, but expressed confidence that
civilians were ready for peace.
I am optimistic that people want peace there, they don't want to continue suffering
because of the conflict...as the number killed there is around 5,000," he was quoted
as saying.
Analysts say that although civilians wants peace, the sectarian conflict is being
protracted by rival military, police, political and business factions, as well as by the
presence of outsiders, such as the Laskar Jihad radicals.
The religious killings in Maluku started in January 1999 after a minor argument
involving a Christian public transport driver and a Muslim boy in Ambon city, and soon
spread out of control.
The government has been considering lifting a civil emergency status that was
imposed on the islands in mid-2000.
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