DATE=1/24/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA / AMBON UPDATE (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258367
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=AMBON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The vice president of Indonesia arrived Monday
in the province of Maluku -- where clashes between
Christians and Muslims have claimed at least two
thousand lives in the past year. As Patricia Nunan
reports from Ambon, the vice-president's visit comes
one day after an alleged massacre of 24 Christians on
the island of Haruku.
TEXT: Indonesian Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri
made no comments to reporters after her arrival by an
Air Force C-130 in Maluku's provincial capital, Ambon.
The vice president stayed just 30 minutes in Ambon,
before setting out for the city of Tual in the Kai
islands, roughly 700 kilometers southeast of the
provincial capital.
The vice president's second visit to Maluku province
in the past six weeks comes one day after an alleged
massacre on the island of Haruku, east of the
provincial capital. Witnesses say at least 24
Christians were killed by hundreds of Muslims in an
attack on three villages early Sunday. One hundred
others were reported injured. Three hundred houses, a
church and two schools were reportedly burnt to the
ground.
Witnesses are also accusing some members of the
Indonesian military of leading the attack, adding that
most of the dead were shot in the chest or head. The
Indonesian military has not yet responded to the
allegations.
Vice President Megawati was given the task of helping
end religious violence in Maluku province and other
regions of Indonesia by President Abdurrahman Wahid
when they took office last October.
In the past year, more than two thousand people have
died in Maluku in clashes between Christians and
Muslims.
Analysts say the eruption of religious violence is in
part the result of long-brewing economic tensions
between Muslims and Christians that had been kept in
check during more than three decades of authoritarian
rule by former President Suharto, which ended in May
1998.
Ms. Megawati was accompanied to Maluku by the
coordinating minister for political and security
affairs, General Wiranto. The vice president's
delegation is expected to return to Ambon late on
Monday, before returning to the Indonesian capital,
Jakarta, Tuesday. (Signed)
NEB/PN/KL
24-Jan-2000 09:56 AM EDT (24-Jan-2000 1456 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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