|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
JAKARTA, June 20 (AFP) - At least 116 people were killed and scores wounded in an attack by Muslims on a Christian village on the island of Halmahera in Indonesia's Maluku islands, police said Tuesday. A force of about 4,000 Muslim fighters attacked Christian residents of Duma village in the subdistrict of Galela on Halmahera island in the North Malukus on Monday morning, a police officer in neighboring Ternate island told AFP. At least 108 Christians and eight of the Muslim attackers were killed and 78 others, including an army soldier, were wounded, the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. More than 200 homes and a place of worship were burned down, the policeman said, citing a telegram from Galela. He said that both sides used homemade weapons. The fighting stopped after army troops and marines separated the warring parties, but the situation remained tense, the state Antara news agency said. The new outburst of violence, which came just before a military change of command in the region, dampened sentiment on the Jakarta stock exchange, closing 0.12 percent down at 490.121, after news of the raid reached the capital. A dealer with a local brokerage said while some investors tried to take profits, others were shorting to take advantage of news of violence in Maluku. The wave of bloody sectarian violence that has plagued the Maluku islands for almost a year and a half started in the Malukus' capital of Ambon in January 1999 and quickly spread to surrounding areas. Since the clashes began, more than 4,000 people have been killed, thousands of homes and buildings gutted, and almost half a million people have been forced to flee to other islands and provinces. On Tuesday the government said the Maluku violence had driven 107,910 families or 486,797 people out of their homes into refugee centers. The government has resettled another 11,065 Maluku refugees. The military last week named a new military commander for the Malukus, a Balinese Hindu, Colonel I Made Yasa, to replace Brigadier General Max Tamaela, amid accusations that some sections of the military were not neutral in the conflict. Maluku governor Saleh Latuconsina believes the arrival of more than 2,000 well-trained self-styled "Jihad warriors" from the island of Java in May has fueled the bitter cycle of revenge in the conflict by giving new heart to Muslims there. In an interview with AFP in May, Latuconsina said he felt that the fact that the Jihad warriors were allowed to travel to the Malukus, pointed to powerful "New Order" forces trying to keep the violence going. New order is the name given by Indonesians to the 32 years of rule by former president Suharto, who stepped down in 1998 amid mass protests. Indonesian Defense Minister Yuwono Sudarsono last week linked the unrest in the Malukus and elsewhere in Indonesia to Jakarta's attempts to bring the former strongman to trial. Former armed forces commander General Wiranto has denied that "rogue" elements in the military are involved in fuelling the violence. |
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
