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