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DATE=7/15/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA - MALUKUS (L-ONLY)(CQ)
NUMBER=2-264448
BYLINE=BRONWYN CURRAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  Indonesia's defense minister is accusing the 
country's army of taking sides in bitter fighting 
between Muslims and Christians in the country's Maluku 
islands.  As Bronwyn Curran reports from Jakarta, the 
defense minister also suggests that soldiers and 
civilians linked to past Indonesian governments are 
masterminding the conflict.
TEXT:  The country's first civilian defense minister, 
Yuwono Sudarsono, makes the claims in an interview 
with the local Jakarta Post newspaper.
He says army personnel stationed in the chain of 
islands known as the Malukus are now a major cause of 
the clashes between Muslims and Christians that began 
19 months ago.
The Indonesian official says army troops have begun 
taking sides in the conflict, causing an increase in 
the level of fighting, which has left more than two-
thousand-500 people dead.
Mr Sudarsono cited the ease with which Muslim 
militants smuggled weapons into the eastern Indonesian 
province as an example of army complicity.  He said 
military units simply let ships loaded with firearms 
freely enter the region.
The armed forces are also being accused of allowing 
the unhindered arrival of more than two-thousand 
Muslim fighters who have vowed to wage a holy war, or 
"jihad," against Christians as revenge for attacks on 
local Muslims.
There had been a lull in the fighting, but that was 
broken in recent weeks with the arrival of the Muslim 
fighters.
In Saturday's interview, the defense minister also 
claims there are indications that civilians and army 
officers associated with former presidents B-J Habibie 
and Suharto were directing the religious conflict.  He 
conceded, however, that there was not enough concrete 
evidence to back up the claim.
Since Indonesia declared a state of civil emergency in 
the Malukus two-and-a-half weeks ago, sniper activity 
has continued in the capital, Ambon.  A Christian 
village was attacked and more than 20 people killed 
shortly after soldiers withdrew from the area.   
(SIGNED)
NEB/BC/JP
15-Jul-2000 08:43 AM EDT (15-Jul-2000 1243 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.