DATE=1/12/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA / VIOLENCE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257982
BYLINE=RON CORBEN
DATELINE=BANGKOK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Indonesia's Malukan Province is reporting
new sectarian violence between Muslim and
Christians. As Ron Corben reports, Indonesian
police are also searching for hundreds of people
missing in the Malukan Archipelago, after fleeing
from attacks.
TEXT: Violence in Indonesia's eastern Malukan
Province raged unabated Wednesday on Halmahera
Island.
Renewed clashes between Christians and Muslims
erupted on the island, 26-hundred kilometers east
of Jakarta. Fighting began Tuesday and has
continued since then.
Police officials in neighboring Tobelo say they
are unable to verify the death toll because of
roaming gangs in the area.
Indonesia's Antara news agency -- quoting
witnesses -- says hundreds of decomposing bodies
are scattered on the streets and on the beach of
Tobelo District, some 600 kilometers north of
Ambon, a center for recent sectarian bloodshed.
On Buru Island, west from Ambon, police are
searching for 800 residents from two northern
villages missing after fleeing into the jungle to
escape an attack by rival groups.
Thousands of buildings -- including more than 122
-- places of worship have been damaged or
torched.
New clashes are also reported on Seram Island --
to the immediate north from Ambon -- where at
least 21 people were killed in Masohi.
Military spokesman Iwa Budiman says the factions
had clashed throughout the day burning buildings
and forcing thousands of people to flee their
homes.
Ambon and its surrounding islands have witnessed
intermittent Muslim-Christian violence since
January, last year. It has escalated in recent
weeks. The death toll has reached to about 17
hundred, with more than 23 hundred people
injured.
The Indonesian military has deployed more than 10
thousand troops to the province in a bid to halt
the killings and destruction. (signed)
NEB/RC/WD
12-Jan-2000 06:44 AM EDT (12-Jan-2000 1144 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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