Christian delegates shun Poso peace talks

La Remy and Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Palu/Jakarta

A second round of peace talks to end the renewed violence in Poso, Central Sulawesi, began on Sunday despite only a few Christian figures attending the two-day meeting held in the provincial capital of Palu.

The fresh talks, brokered by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, appeared futile as no influential Christian leaders appeared.

Their absence dealt another blow to achieving long-lasting peace in the once-ravaged town, where some 2,000 people have been killed in two years of intermittent sectarian fighting.

The Muslim group threatened to walk out of the meeting, accusing its rival faction of disrespecting the important forum. But they later dropped the threat, arguing that the talks were not intended to make any deal.

At least 25 representatives from both sides were invited to the meeting.

Most Muslim delegates were present.

But, only five Christian figures -- J. Santo, S. Pelima, P. Nelitan Alamako, Hari Kabi and D. Langgara -- showed up.

Local influential priest Renaldy Damanik, who led the Christian delegation in the first peace talks held in the South Sulawesi hill resort of Malino last December, was not seen at the tightly-guarded meeting venue in the Golden Hotel.

He could not be reached for comment on Sunday evening. A member of his family, named only as Era, told The Jakarta Post that Damanik was going to hospital to visit his parents in law.

Langgara said his group had decided not to attend the second peace talks in protest against many unexplained violations of the Malino agreement signed by Muslim and Christian representatives.

"Our group has issued a statement signed by Pak Renaldy Damanik calling its members not to attend the current meeting," he said.

Langgara said his faction was disappointed over the failure of local security authorities to solve a spate of recent attacks on mainly Christian victims.

Santo expressed similar grievances and wanted the meeting postponed until next week as many Christian figures were busy dealing with around 7,000 refugees who fled the religious violence.

Amirullah Sia, secretary of a working group to disseminate the Malino accord, confirmed that the Christian delegation had told the local authorities not to join the second round of peace talks.

Kalla's aide, Faridz Husein, who helped facilitate the meeting in Palu, said the talks would go ahead despite the absence of many Christian delegates as it would not take any decision.

"The meeting would be to evaluate the implementation of the Malino Declaration," Faridz said.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar was also among the Kalla-led government delegates who arrived in Palu on a special flight on Sunday morning.

Kalla, who brokered the December peace agreement, and Da'i stayed briefly and flew directly on a helicopter to Tentena subdistrict and other troubled areas around Poso, where they talked separately with Christian and Muslim figures. It was not clear what they discussed.

Security was largely restored in Poso following the Malino deal. But the once-ravaged town recently saw a series of fresh attacks blamed on armed groups of unidentified people. None of the attackers have been captured.

The latest violence took place on Saturday when residents at two villages of Tongko and Malei Lage fought each other at 4 p.m., raising tensions there.

During the violence, villagers held hostage Pvt Andi Amir, a police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) member. His whereabouts remained unknown by Sunday.

Deputy Poso Police chief Comr. Yusmanjaya confirmed the clash, but did not say whether there were any casualties.

The fighting caused a heavy traffic jam and forced motorists to avoid traveling through the riot-hit villages.

Last week gunmen sprayed a bus with bullets, killing Lorenzo Taddei, a 34-year old Italian tourist, and wounding four other passengers, all locals.

It was the fourth attack on public transport since the Malino peace pact.

In an effort to quell the renewed attacks that have forced a new exodus of thousands of refugees, local security authorities were deploying more reinforcement troops to Poso.