National rights body team visits devastated Maluku<\/p>\n
AMBON, Maluku (JP): A team from the National Commission on
\nHuman Rights (Komnas HAM) began a visit to Ambon on Thursday to
\nevaluate the success of the one-month long civil emergency status
\nin the strife-torn provinces.<\/p>\n
Bambang W. Soeharto, BN Marbun and Maj. Gen. (ret) Sjamsoedin
\nfrom Komnas HAM's team of reconciliation and mediation for the
\nMalukus met with Governor Saleh Latuconsina at his office on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
\"The team is here to gather data for an evaluation of the
\nimposition of the civil emergency status that started on June
\n27,\" Bambang told the media after the meeting.<\/p>\n
\"We are very concerned that violence has intensified here
\nduring the civil emergency, whereas in April the situation was
\nactually already very conducive for peace and reconciliation.<\/p>\n
\"We believe that the arrival of unwanted outsiders has
\ndisrupted the rehabilitation and reconciliation efforts,\" Bambang
\nsaid, without mentioning who he was referring to.<\/p>\n
Reports have said that the arrival of Laksar Jihad fighters in
\nearly May worsened the situation in the two provinces.<\/p>\n
\"We ask for the political elite to support the ongoing civil
\nemergency in a bid to speed up the resolution of the Maluku
\nconflict,\" Bambang said.<\/p>\n
The team will reportedly visit North Maluku on a similar
\nmission.<\/p>\n
Separately, the Navy's Eastern Fleet security commander,
\nCommodore Djoko Sumarsono, said on Thursday that Navy officers
\nhad recently seized 200 grenades and grenade launchers and around
\n7,000 rounds of ammunition from onboard the KM Dobonsolo.<\/p>\n
The liner sails from Surabaya to Ambon via Bali and Kupang.<\/p>\n
He also said that Navy officers had seized three vessels
\nloaded with weaponry on their way from southern Philippine waters
\nto Halmahera and Ternate in North Maluku.<\/p>\n
\"We also detected the movement of armed rioters entering
\nMaluku from Gorontalo, North Sulawesi,\" the commodore said.<\/p>\n
The officer also alleged that in southern Philippines weapons
\nwere being traded freely.<\/p>\n
\"Anybody with a certain amount of money can purchase guns
\nthere,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In Sorong, Irian Jaya, the KM Dobonsolo, with around 3,000
\nrefugees from Maluku onboard, was denied entry to the town's port
\nto unload its passengers as residents feared they would trigger
\nunrest.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of Irianese crowded the port on Thursday to drive the
\nship back to sea, a witness named Bondan, a worker at Sorong
\nParish Cathedral, told The Jakarta Post by phone. He added that
\nthe vessel finally disembarked its passengers on the nearby
\nisland of Buaya, before continuing to the other Irian Jaya towns
\nof Manokwari, Biak and Jayapura, were the refugees were told to
\nremain onboard. (49\/eba\/edt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/national-rights-body-team-visits-devastated-maluku-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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