REUTERS, Thursday December 6, 2001 8:42 PM
Indonesia troops accused in troubled eastern town
By Achmad Sukarsono
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian soldiers have been accused of abducting Muslim
men in the eastern town of Poso, raising tension during a ministerial visit to the area
where Muslim-Christian fights have killed thousands since late 1998.
But a human rights group said the reports had not been verified and the military had
denied them.
Muslim groups told Reuters on Thursday that soldiers last week seized seven Muslim
men they suspected of taking part in weekend attacks on Christian villages around
Poso in the centre of Sulawesi island.
The clashes there underscore the problems Indonesia's central government faces in
controlling ethnic and religious violence since the 32-year Suharto presidency ended
and with it the harmony imposed by his autocratic rule.
"There have been seven Muslim residents forcefully nabbed by men clearly coming
from the local military office. They were taken from their houses and have been
missing since," said Abdul Hadi, a spokesman for the radical Ahlu-Sunnah Wal
Jama'ah Forum.
The state-run National Human Rights Commission said those reports still need
verification.
"Members of the public said the military has done some torture. The military denied
that. So, we still have to verify this," said B.N. Marbun, who leads the commission's
Poso fact-finding team.
"Poso now is half safe. Some parts are peaceful but a few metres away it's
life-threatening," he told Reuters by phone from the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu.
Police have not ruled out army involvement and said one of the missing persons had
been found dead.
"One of the (missing people), a Muslim man, was found dead yesterday in a river with
stabs on his body," Central Sulawesi police spokesman Agus Sugiyanto told Reuters.
Visiting chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono balked on Wednesday
when Muslims asked him to go look at the corpse, a reporter travelling with his
delegation told Reuters.
Yudhoyono was on a three-day visit that began on Tuesday.
His trip to check the situation was sparked by a fresh wave of Muslim-Christian
violence that broke out in the Poso area 10 days ago after a respite of several months.
The off-and-on mayhem has killed more than 1,000 people since December 1998,
when drunken Christians celebrating Christmas assaulted a Muslim boy near a
mosque during Ramadan.
Last week's violence has left at least 15 more killed, as well as scores of churches
charred and 300,000 of the Central Sulawesi town residents trapped in sectarian
enclaves.
The latest violence comes at a sensitive time, as Muslims and Christians prepare to
celebrate their holiest days. The Muslim Eid el-Fitr festival which marks the end of
Ramadan falls this year on December 16, nine days before Christmas.
Rumours of members of both religious groups being ready to spoil the others' holidays
are now rife.
MINISTER PROMISES JUSTICE
Witnesses say that on Wednesday Poso Muslims and Christians in separate
locations pleaded with Yudhoyono for far-reaching action, and he promised them
justice.
"We are attempting to bring those allegedly involved in violence to court," Antara news
agency quoted him as saying.
Last month, the Supreme Court upheld April death verdicts on three Poso Christians
for inciting fatal clashes with Muslims. Although courts have punished some Muslims,
none has received a ruling as harsh as these three.
Jakarta imposed a state of civil emergency, one step from martial law, in the
Moluccas in June 2000 after similar fights spread from one city to the entire chain of
islands. But the clashes in Poso have not yet spilled over into the surrounding area.
Yudhoyono has said the government would decide whether to declare a civil
emergency after his visit although 2,000 police and soldiers were already heading for
Poso.
Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
|
