Gorontalo police stay alert

Gorontalo police stay alert

GORONTALO, Gorontalo: The Gorontalo Police Precinct in North
Sulawesi province is on "high alert" against any possible spread
of the Poso sectarian conflict to the province, which borders
Central Sulawesi, approximately eight hours by road to Poso.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Radjim Asianto said he has issued eight
instructions to prevent the Poso conflict from spreading to the
province.

"The eight instructions included, among others, that religious
communities and leaders are asked to promote tolerance among
themselves and should not be influenced easily by rumors. Locals
are also asked to report on those who try to incite them to
"disturb the peace", he said here on Friday.

He said the police would be very diligent in preventing
outsiders from entering the area and inciting Muslims to attack
churches and markets. It is widely believed that the heavily-
armed, Java-based Laskar Jihad militants have been provoking
locals to violence. Despite the real possibility of their
existence throughout Sulawesi, and even Maluku, there have been
no investigations to establish proof, so the government cannot
officially crack down on the organization as a whole.

The local police, however, have recently seized 87 homemade
firearms and several dozen machetes from Poso refugees, in the
province. --Antara