Maluku peace talks set for Jan. 6 and 7

Maluku peace talks set for Jan. 6 and 7

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The government will host peace talks between Muslim and Christian
leaders next week aimed at ending three years of sectarian
fighting in the Maluku islands, a local leader announced on
Tuesday.

The talks will be held from Feb. 6 through Feb. 7 in the South
Sulawesi hill resort of Malino under the sponsorship of the
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, who visited Maluku last week.

Malino was the town where Poso, Central Sulawesi, peace deal
was signed last month.

Thamrin Ely said that the notorious Java-based Laskar Jihad
militant group, accused of worsening the conflicts in the
country's eastern provinces, would be involved in the talks.

"The participation of Laskar Jihad in "the Meeting for Maluku"
is part of an agreement between Muslim figures and the central
government led by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono," he was quoted by
Antara as saying.

Susilo met leaders of the warring factions separately in the
Maluku capital of Ambon from Jan. 25 to Jan. 26. His high-powered
entourage included Coordinating Minister for Social Affairs Jusuf
Kalla and National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar.

The visit was to assess peace efforts in Maluku and North
Maluku provinces, where some 6,000 people have been killed in
religious clashes since January 1999.

Thamrin, a leader of the Islamic community in Maluku who also
heads the provincial branch of the National Mandate Party (PAN),
said a 35-strong Muslim delegation had already left for Malino
and a similar number of Christian representatives would leave on
Wednesday.

Apart from Laskar Jihad fighters, the separatist Maluku
Sovereignty Front (FKM) has also been accused of fomenting riots
between Muslims and Christians there.

It was not clear, however, whether Front leaders would be
included in the talks or not.

The peace talks are reportedly intended to seek an agreement
on halting the violence, forming an acceptable basis for a
judicial process, setting up a team of peace monitors and
starting a repatriation program for the some 500,000 refugees who
were forced to flee their homes as a result of the conflict.

Malino was the venue where the central government successfully
hosted similar peace talks last month to end the sectarian unrest
in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

The meeting, sponsored by Minister Jusuf Kalla, ended with a
crucial agreement to halt more than two years of communal clashes
that have claimed the lives of thousands of people.

Susilo said on Tuesday that the two feuding sides in Maluku
should not allow themselves to be swayed by the attempts of
certain parties to foil the upcoming peace talks.

Nor should the government be afraid of pushing for
negotiations, he told the press at his office in Jakarta.

The chief security minister was apparently referring to bomb
blasts and gunfire that rang out in the volatile Ambon just hours
after he left the city on Sunday.

He said that to achieve a similar success to that of the
Malino agreement would not be so easy as the conflict in Maluku
had escalated to a much greater extent than in Poso.

"In Poso, it took talks on one or two occasions to start a
peace process, but in Ambon it may require several attempts at
dialog," Susilo added.

He asked security forces there to consistently uphold the law
against anyone disturbing public order in the troubled provinces
ahead of and during the peace process.

"The government must ensure that security is under control so
as to maintain a conducive environment," he added.

Susilo has said that the government would decide this week
whether to lift the state of civil emergency in North Maluku.
However, its governor, Muhyi Effendi, suggested on Monday that
the lifting of the emergency be delayed for another six months.