Govt to impede infiltration of Poso

La Remmy and Erik W., The Jakarta Post, Poso, Central Sulawesi

Jakarta plans to increase security in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, to prevent outsiders from perpetrating further attacks after the deaths of at least nine people in recent raids there, a senior minister said on Wednesday.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said three main security measures would be utilized to prevent more deadly violence blamed on "mysterious gunmen" in the past two weeks, which threatens to end the peace deal brokered in December 2001, which effectively put a stop to two years of Muslim-Christian clashes.

First, the security forces will intensify patrols in vulnerable areas across the religiously divided district to curb the intrusion of troublemakers from outside.

Second, the authorities are determined to cut off communication between Sulawesi-based provocateurs and their accomplices living in other areas.

"The central government will strive to tighten security so as to hinder the free movement of outsiders in Poso by strengthening intelligence operations," Susilo told journalists on the sidelines of his visit to the town.

Third, the Indonesian Military (TNI) will station soldiers in remote areas that are not inhabited or home to very small communities.

Susilo said the deployment of military forces would be concentrated in jungles and mountainous areas. "This operation is to break up the bases of these troublemakers and detect their activities or training camps."

He said the three crucial measures were decided as an analysis showed that the latest attacks in Poso and the neighboring regency of Morowali were perpetrated by trained outsiders in cooperation with some local residents.

They had formed paramilitary gangs recruited from the local population to launch raids on villages in a very well planned manner, the chief security minister added.

However, Susilo could not specify the number of police and military personnel that would be needed in Poso.

On Sunday, masked gunmen launched dawn raids on three predominantly Christian villages; Saatu, Pantangolemba and Pinedapa in Poso Pesisir subdistrict, leaving nine people dead.

Two days earlier, similar attackers killed three others and burned houses and a church in Beteleme village, Morowali. A bomb blast rocked Betania village in Poso Pesisir on Monday evening, but caused no injuries.

The unexpected attacks prompted Susilo and officers from the TNI and the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) to fly to Central Sulawesi on Tuesday.

He visited Pinedapa, Saatu and Pantangolemba on Wednesday to assess the situation and spoke with victims there. In Poso, the minister was accompanied by Central Sulawesi Governor Aminuddin Ponulele and provincial police chief Brig. Gen. Taufik Ridha.

During the talks, local residents asked Susilo to deploy more security personnel to the attacked villages to restore peace and order.

"During Sunday's incident, I saw guns like those belonging to security officers who were once on duty here," said the unnamed head of Pantangolemba village.

Susilo also held a meeting with local religious and community leaders, as well as government officials at Poso's Torulemba building, where he told them to work together in a sincere way to contain any new conflicts or revenge attacks.

Separately on Wednesday, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, who brokered the 2001 peace pact, said there was no need for talks over the recent incidents.

"What has happened in Poso is not a conflict but purely an attack by a certain group, so there is no need for a dialog (among Muslim and Christian leaders)," he argued as quoted by Antara.

Kalla claimed that the situation in Poso had returned to relative normalcy because local people from both faiths were united in their opposition of the unidentified attackers.

Meanwhile, Taufik Ridha said a lack of cooperation on the part of local people was part of the police's difficulties in uncovering a series of recent attacks by mysterious gunmen in Central Sulawesi.

Information from people was badly needed to help unravel those cases, he added.

Poso's Tadulako military chief Col. M. Slamet admitted that many local civilians still carried firearms and that his office and the local police would step up house-to-house raids and seize any sharp weapons from the villagers.

The arms sweeps would also be done in jungle settlements as well, he added.