Luwu clashes continue in run-up to Idul Fitri

By Jupriadi

LUWU, South Sulawesi (JP): On more person died on Sunday as clashes continued between armed residents in the Sabbang district of Luwu regency, bringing the death toll from the week-long strife to six.

In Rantela'bi hamlet in Kalotok village, attackers also looted homes, mainly targeting electronic items, police said.

Truckloads of evacuees, mostly women and children, continued to flow into the Luwu capital of Palopo from the villages of Dandang, Pompaniki, Kampung Baru and Kalotok, where at least 87 houses have been set on fire since the clashes began last Monday.

Hundreds now expect to spend the Idul Fitri holiday in refugee camps.

Residents said the security forces had been outnumbered and were unable to confiscate weapons from the warring factions, as promised. They also said the warring groups appeared to know when the security forces were due to arrive.

Meanwhile, police said a former teacher at a technical high school teacher in Toraja, 330 kilometers north of Ujungpandang, had been arrested and charged with making homemade firearms.

Sources said the clashes would escalate after the Idul Fitri holiday.

What was initially said to be an alcohol-fueled fight between teenagers has now escalated into a full scale battle between residents of the respective villages.

"We don't know how it became a battle of the kampongs," said a resident of Dandang, a village where migrant communities from Java, Bali and Tanah Toraja are concentrated.

Private Iskandaria, a mobile brigade officer stationed in Kalotok, told The Jakarta Post that an average of 50 trucks a day were arriving in Palopo with evacuees from the affected area.

A Kalotok resident died and dozens more were injured in Sunday's clashes. The dead man was identified as Pego. At least two police officers were among those injured on Sunday.

Deaths

However police refused to confirm the deaths which residents said included Husein, 18, Hasdil, 18, both residents of Kalotok village and Rahim, 22 of Dandang village. Another was Haspin, also of Dandang, and Pego, whose origin was unknown. Locals said relatives immediately buried them.

Wirabuana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Suadi Marasabessy promised that steps would be taken to end the fighting, but evacuees leaving the troubled area said that the security forces had yet to move on the rival gangs.

"The security forces have not yet acted to stamp out the violence. They have not confiscated any weapons like they promised," Danang village chief Abdul Muin said.

Male inhabitants of Dandang have set a watch near the forest fringing their village to guard against any further attacks.

More troops have been deployed in the area, but their presence has so far been ineffectual. "They stop fighting when we arrive and are at each other again as soon as we have gone," Iskandar said.

Local resident M. Jibu said that each faction had developed lines of communication to warn of the impending arrival of soldiers. "It will be very hard to stop this battle," he said, "they can monitor the troops' movements."

In Walenrang district, 470 kilometers north of Ujungpandang, dozens of houses were burnt down, an evacuee from the district said. "It's worse there, it's even more difficult for the security forces to reach," he said.

Almost 1,000 people have gathered at one evacuee post in Palopo. Post coordinator F. Patoding said he lacked the necessary food and medicine to help them.