Will Malino peace deal effectively end Poso conflict?
\nOR
\nWill Malino peace deal be effective?
\nOR
\nCan Malino peace deal end Poso conflict?
\nOR
\nCan Malino Declaration bring peace to Poso?
\nOR
\nCan Malino Declaration return peace to Poso?<\/p>\n
Jupriadi
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nMalino<\/p>\n
Since the Poso conflict erupted in early December 1998, warring
\nfactions in the restive regency have signed five peace
\nagreements, including the Malino Declaration signed last Thursday
\nin Malino, a historical town some 77 kilometers northeast of
\nMakassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
The failure of the previous four peace agreements signed by
\nwarring factions was due to the absence of mutual trust.<\/p>\n
The death toll has risen from one day to the next and from one
\nclash to the next. So far, according to conservative data from
\nthe Poso administration, the prolonged conflict -- which was
\ntriggered by an argument between two youths of different
\nreligions -- has claimed 577 lives, destroyed 7,932 houses, 27
\nmosques, 55 churches and one temple. A score of locals has gone
\nmissing and thousands of others have been left injured. But
\naccording to the Revolutionary Front for Muslim Solidarity, the
\ndeath toll has reached more than 2,000 and more than 150,000
\nlocals have taken refuge in other regencies and provinces.<\/p>\n
Soon after the unrest turned into to a sectarian conflict
\nbetween local Muslims and Christians, the Poso administration
\nheld the first reconciliatory meeting among religious and tribal
\nleaders in Tagalu on Dec. 26, 1998. The religious and tribal
\nleaders held another such a meeting in Tarulemba on Dec. 28, 1998
\nafter the Tagalu peace agreement was breached only one day after
\nit was signed.<\/p>\n
South Sulawesi took the initiative to bring delegates of the
\ntwo warring factions to a reconciliatory meeting in Sayo in July
\n2000 following clashes in Poso town between April 16 and April
\n21, 2000, but the peace agreement signed by both sides was found
\nineffective in halting the conflict as both sides claimed to have
\nbeen attacked. With the absence of mutual trust among warring
\nfactions, their supporters attacked one another. The attacks
\nspread from village to village.<\/p>\n
The Central Sulawesi Provincial Police launched the Sadar
\nMaleo Operation to disarm militias while Poso Deputy Regent Abdul
\nMalik Syahadat set up a team to resolve the conflict after the
\nChristian Bat Force, led by Fransiskus Tibo, attacked several
\npredominantly Muslim villages in the regency. Tibo and two others
\nwere sentenced to death for their roles in the attacks.<\/p>\n
South Sulawesi Deputy Governor Ruly Lamadjido employed a
\ncultural approach by inviting all religious and tribal leaders of
\nthe two warring factions to a meeting in Maraso on Aug. 22, 2000,
\nwhich former president Abdurrahman Wahid attended, but that also
\nfailed to end the conflict.<\/p>\n
Afterward, the Wirabuana Military Command overseeing Sulawesi
\nlaunched the Love of Peace Operation by deploying until October
\n2001 four infantry battalions to restore security and order.<\/p>\n
Tension had been mounting since early November when hundreds
\nof Laskar Jihad militiamen from Java entered the regency, while
\nat the same time infantry battalions were pull out. The
\nmilitiamen, who were equipped with AK-47 guns, rocket launchers
\nand machetes as well as bulldozers, killed hundreds of Christians
\nand burned down thousands of houses and other buildings in the
\nabsence of security personnel over the last two months.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, who
\nrepresented the government to mediate between the warring
\nfactions in the Malino meeting, has expressed hope that the
\nMalino Declaration will be effective in ending the conflict since
\n48 delegates of the two warring factions, including field
\ncommanders of rival militias, signed it and agreed to seek a
\ncomprehensive solution to the conflict.<\/p>\n
"The first four agreements were not effective because those
\nwho signed them were only religious and tribal leaders instead of
\nfield commanders," he said.<\/p>\n
Reynaldi Damanik, coordinator of a Protestant crisis center in
\nTentena, concurred and said that the most important thing was
\nthat both sides' leaders and field commanders signed the deal to
\nend the conflict and apologized to one another.<\/p>\n
"We've learned from the previous agreements that we need to
\nestablish mutual trust and better communication in order to
\nprevent the conflict from recurring," he said.<\/p>\n
Yahya Al Hamrie, a field commander of the Muslim White Camp
\nmilitia, hailed the Malino Declaration as an opportunity to
\nrebuild ruined Poso.<\/p>\n
"We all came here to make peace and rebuild Poso because we
\nare fed up with the conflict that has brought suffering to our
\npeople. And this reconciliatory meeting must be permanent and the
\nlast for all of us," he said.<\/p>\n
He said all sides participating in the meeting had agreed to
\nset up a task force to follow up the declaration.<\/p>\n
"The police and military have their main task of restoring
\nsecurity and order, and law enforcers will process all past law
\nviolations, the local administration will rehabilitate all
\ndamaged assets and handle refugees, and field commanders will
\ndisarm their members and dissolve their organizations," he said.<\/p>",
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