DATE=12/29/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA / UNREST (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257584
BYLINE=RON CORBEN
DATELINE=BANGKOK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Indonesia's military says it is taking
over responsibility for security on the eastern
island of Ambon in a bid to restore order after
days of violence. Ron Corben reports from our
Southeast Asia Bureau in Bangkok, the military
acted as the death toll in fighting between
Christian and Muslim gangs continued to rise,
with at least 55 people reported dead and up to
one hundred wounded.
TEXT: The Indonesian military has urged the
Jakarta government to declare a civil emergency
in the eastern province of Maluku after days of
deadly religious clashes in the capital Ambon.
Earlier hopes of a lessening in the violence
appear to have been dashed amid continued
tensions between the Muslim and Christian
communities. Hundreds of people have fled the
capital, which is located 23-hundred kilometers
east of Jakarta.
A military spokesman in Ambon, Lieutenant Colonel
Iwa Budiman, told news agencies the clashes,
which began Sunday, continued into Tuesday night
with angry mobs torching several buildings.
Colonel Budiman said the fighting was continuing
and that local police were preparing to hand over
security to the military.
The territory has been ravaged by sectarian
violence throughout the year with a death toll so
far this year of up to 800 people.
A state of civil emergency is just a step away
from martial law, but allows security forces to
search houses, detain suspects and impose a
curfew.
But Colonel Budiman said a quick decision by the
Jakarta government is necessary, adding the
situation is rapidly getting out of control.
Among the wounded in the violence Tuesday was a
28-year old Japanese pearl company executive, now
recovering after surgery. He was shot in the
stomach and left shoulder.
Local residents say the violence has been the
worst yet in Ambon.
Eyewitnesses have given accounts of
decapitations, with the victims' bodies being
dragged through the town. Churches, mosques and
factories, as well as hundreds of homes have been
set ablaze.
Some church leaders, including Josef Marcus
Pattiasina from the Communion of Churches in
Indonesia, appealed for the government to allow a
United Nations peacekeeping force onto the
island, especially in Ambon city and the
surrounding region.
/// REST OPT /// Ambon was previously viewed as a
model of religious harmony in largely Muslim
Indonesia. With its community evenly divided
between Christian and Muslims, it now faces long
and deep social scarring, as a result of the
sectarian bloodshed.
NEB/RC/FC/KL
29-Dec-1999 05:30 AM EDT (29-Dec-1999 1030 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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