26 arrested for allegedly masterminding Luwu feuds
26 arrested for allegedly masterminding Luwu feuds
LUWU, South Sulawesi (JP): Local police and military troops
have arrested 26 people for their alleged involvement in the two-
year-long ethnic clashes in Luwu and North Luwu regencies.
Local police chief Lt. Col. Tatang Soemantri said on Monday
the 26 people were charged with instigating the violent clashes.
Tatang declined to elaborate.
The communal clashes have erupted sporadically since January
1998, claiming 28 lives. The unrest has left some 350 houses and
public facilities charred or destroyed by fire.
Material losses from the incidents has reached more than Rp 2
billion.
Reports said the conflicts began to occur regularly in 1985.
It was often triggered by street brawls between teenagers before
escalating into inter-village clashes pitting natives of Tana
Toraja against migrants from Java.
It is believed that hundreds of people have died in the 15
years of violence, not to mention the property razed to the
ground.
A number of migrants attributed the clashes to the natives'
envy over the economic gap between the two communities. "The
natives accuse us of robbing their land," said a migrant, who
asked for anonymity.
The two regencies were formerly united in one administrative
area before the government created two regencies last year in a
last-ditch effort to quell the conflict.
Tatang said that during the joint operation, which was
conducted between Jan. 27 and Feb. 1 this year, security
personnel confiscated 438 homemade guns called papporo, 557
arrows, 118 spears, seven air rifles, 103 sharp weapons, 118 iron
poles, revolver ammunition, four magazines for an M-16
semiautomatic rifle and 385 weapon launchers.
"We will continue the operation by promoting peace among the
people and conducting regular operations from house to house to
seize illegal weapons," Tatang said.
Some 1,500 police and military personnel joined the operation
code named Sipakatau. They have combed a total of 60 villages in
17 districts in North Luwu and Luwu regencies.
Tension reportedly ran high in several districts in North Luwu
and Luwu regencies following a series of communal clashes.
(27/edt)