DATE=1/5/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA-MALUKUS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257793
BYLINE=GARY THOMAS
DATELINE=BANGKOK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Fighting continues in Indonesia's Maluku Islands,
sending thousands more people fleeing for safety and
prompting the military to contemplate dispatching
additional troops. VOA Correspondent Gary Thomas reports
from our Southeast Asia Bureau in Bangkok.
TEXT: Officials say fighting between Christians and
Muslims in the remote Maluku Islands is creating a new wave
of refugees seeking safety in and around the provincial
capital of Ambon.
Terrified residents are taking shelter in schools, mosques,
churches, and military barracks in Ambon, located some 23-
hundred kilometers east of Jakarta. Some are making their
way to the capital on their own by boat, while others are
being evacuated by Indonesian military forces.
Reports say an estimated 10-thousand people are awaiting
evacuation from Halmahera Island, scene of the some of the
worst clashes in recent days. Military officials say the
fighting continues in Halmahera, although it has somewhat
died down.
Provincial military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Iwa
Budiman denied news reports of a massacre of some two-
thousand Muslims by Christian mobs. But he added that an
investigation is being conducted to determine the death
toll, from what he labeled as "normal fighting" between the
two sides.
More than 15-hundred people are known to have died in a
year of fighting in the Malukus, also known as the Spice
Islands. Last week the Indonesian military - already
stretched thin battling separatist movements in Aceh and
Irian Jaya - assumed direct control of security the area.
Armed forces chief Admiral Widodo said Wednesday there are
now 12 battalions of troops in Maluku and North Maluku
provinces. He said more might have to be deployed if the
fighting continues.
Troops are continuing their house-to-house search in Ambon
looking for weapons. (signed)
NEB/GPT/FC
05-Jan-2000 05:32 AM EDT (05-Jan-2000 1032 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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