Maluku peace talks set for next week

Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar

Government negotiators met separately with Muslim and Christian leaders on Wednesday in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar as part of efforts to end years of sectarian fighting in the Maluku islands, which has left some 6,000 people dead.

The meeting was aimed at laying the groundwork for formal peace talks between the warring parties scheduled for Feb. 5 and 7 in the South Sulawesi hill resort of Malino.

The mediators, led by Coordinating Minister for Social Affairs Jusuf Kalla, held talks with Christian representatives at the Losari Beach Hotel in Makassar, followed by a meeting with Muslim representatives at the city's Kenari Hotel.

Present at the meetings were Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina, senior local legislators, South Sulawesi Governor HZB Palaguna and senior officers from the National Police and Indonesian Military.

The talks were aimed at outlining an agenda to guide discussion at next week's meeting in Malino.

Kalla, speaking to journalists after meeting the Christian delegation, declined to give details of Wednesday's discussion.

"The meeting in Makassar is an informal forum following the earlier talks in Ambon," he said. "We are optimistic about the prospect of upcoming peace talks because there has been a significant development on the part of the Christian group." He refused to elaborate further.

Kalla and Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Maluku and North Maluku provinces on Jan. 25 and 26, during which they met separately with both factions.

The two feuding groups were each represented by 15 delegates. The Muslim delegation was led by Abdul Wahab Polpoke and the Christian representatives by Rev. Mandagi.

They will return home to the Maluku capital of Ambon on Thursday to disseminate the outcomes of the informal meeting among their respective followers, before flying back to Malino on Feb. 4.

Malino was the venue for successful peace talks hosted by the central government last month, which ended the sectarian unrest in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

The meeting, sponsored by Minister Jusuf Kalla, ended with an agreement to halt more than two years of communal violence that had claimed the lives of thousands of people in Poso.

It remains unclear whether leaders of the militant Java-based Laskar Jihad group, blamed for worsening the conflicts in the Malukus, were part of the Muslim delegation on Wednesday.

Thamrin Ely, a leader of the Islamic community in Maluku who also heads the provincial branch of the National Mandate Party (PAN), said the group would be involved in the formal peace talks.

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

Susilo and other senior officials in Jakarta on Wednesday denied that the involvement of the group had been agreed upon. They were vague on details of the venue and timing of the talks.

The chief security minister simply said the negotiations would be held this month outside Maluku.

He said the government was not in a position to dictate to the Maluku people on how and where the mechanism of reconciliation should take place.

"We only want to respond to an objection raised by locals during our recent visit there, as the Christian group said that Ambon, as well as other cities in Maluku, was not suitable for the event as thousands of Laskar Jihad are currently there.

"A similar objection was also voiced by the Muslim group who blamed the presence of FKM (the Maluku Sovereignty Front) -- part of the South Maluku Republic (RMS)'s movement -- for fomenting disturbances to the reconciliation process," Susilo said.

It was unclear whether FKM leaders would be included in the talks.

The peace talks are designed 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.