1,800 people afraid to return to homes

1,800 people afraid to return to homes

POSO, Central Sulawesi: Security concerns have prevented some
1,800 residents of Lombogia subdistrict, Poso district, from
returning to their homes.

The residents fled their homes in 2000 when a bloody sectarian
conflict broke out in Poso regency. They have since been living
with relatives or in camps in the predominantly Christian
subdistrict of Tentena, North Pamona district, some 70 kilometers
south of Lombogia.

"They are traumatized. They are afraid to return to their
homes in Lombogia for fear that the bloody violence will happen
again," Lombogia subdistrict chief Gustaf Tajongga said on Friday
night.

Thousands of people, both Muslim and Christian, were forced to
flee their homes by the sectarian conflict in the area. -- JP