DATE=7/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=MALUKU VIOLENCE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-264411
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
//Editors - Please update casualty figures in the
intro, they are likely to change//
INTRO: At least seven people have been killed and 12
wounded in the latest eruption of violence in
Indonesia's eastern Maluku province. As Patricia Nunan
reports from Jakarta, the wave of clashes in the
island province is now being described as the worst
sectarian fighting in the history of Indonesia.
TEXT: Fighting in Maluku's provincial capital Ambon
has now spilled over into the city's port -- with
groups of Muslims and Christians
exchanging gunfire in speedboats. News of those
clashes sparked further violence in the city's streets
-- with a mob using bombs and grenades
to set fire to more than a dozen houses.
Almost 200 people have died in the latest wave of
violence to hit Maluku province. The series of clashes
was sparked by the arrival in the
province of a group of Islamic extremists called
"Laskar Jihad" or the "Holy War Force." They pledged
to wage a holy war in support of
Maluku's Muslims, after roughly 18 months of sporadic
clashes between the two religious communities.
Human rights officials say more than three-thousand
people have died in the past 18 months.
The Indonesian military has come under scathing
criticism for failing to stem the bloodshed.
Indonesia's Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono
announced that some 14-hundred of the roughly 10
thousand troops in the province would be rotated out
after both Muslim and Christian community leaders
accused some security forces of participating in the
violence.
Maluku is now under a state of civil emergency --
giving the military increased powers to crack down on
potential unrest.
The Indonesian Navy meanwhile has imposed a security
cordon around Maluku province. Officials say they have
arrested one "Laskar Jihad" leader and have
confiscated some three-thousand weapons they say were
headed to Maluku.
Christian leaders have made repeated calls for foreign
intervention to bring an end to the fighting. The
Maluku crisis is also threatening the popularity of
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, ahead of a key
meeting of Indonesia's National Assembly next
month.(signed)
NEB/HK/PN/JO/PLM
14-Jul-2000 06:05 AM EDT (14-Jul-2000 1005 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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