DATE=5/26/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA-AMBON (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262834
BYLINE=GARY THOMAS
DATELINE=BANGKOK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Fresh sectarian violence has erupted in
Indonesia's troubled Molucca Islands. At least 33
people are reported to have been killed in clashes
between Christians and Muslims. V-O-A Southeast Asia
correspondent Gary Thomas reports.
TEXT: Reports from the remote island group say a band
of armed men have attacked a village on Halmahera
Island, setting a church and other buildings ablaze.
Officials say bands of armed Muslims, coming by both
land and sea, pounced on the predominantly Christian
village in the Galela district in the pre-dawn hours
Thursday. At least 33 people - most of them
Christians - were killed. More than 60 people were
wounded.
The official Antara News Agency says at least two of
the attackers had come from Sumatra, far from the
Moluccas.
The islands - also known as the Spice Islands - have
been caught in sporadic spasms of violence for the
past 16 months. More than 25-hundred people have
died. Nobody is quite sure how it started. But nobody
seems quite sure how to stop it, either.
The government of President Abdurrahman Wahid has
called on the Muslim and Christian communities to
settle any outstanding differences. But a massive
security force has been deployed to the region as
well.
The task of bringing peace to the troubled islands has
been complicated by the presence of Islamic
paramilitary groups and calls by radical Muslims for a
jihad, or holy war, against Christians.
Earlier in May, at least 38 people were killed in
fresh violence in Ambon, the capital of the Moluccas.
Ambon - which has seen some of the worst fighting - is
now reported to be relatively calm. (signed)
NEB/HK/GPT/JO/PLM
26-May-2000 06:59 AM EDT (26-May-2000 1059 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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