Maluku refugees claim aid money stolen, battle police
Maluku refugees claim aid money stolen, battle police
Agencies, Jakarta
Thousands of refugees who fled the three-year long sectarian
conflict in North Maluku province clashed on Monday with police
in Ternate, demanding that they be transported home free of
charge.
Around 200 officers and soldiers scuffled with the refugees,
who burned motorbikes and threatened to set fire to a government
office in the regency capital of Ternate, AP reported.
Police fired shots into the air, but there were no reports of
any casualties.
"We want to return home now," said Yakmil Abdul Karim, the
spokesman for the refugees. "The governor is stealing our aid
money. We have been forced to live in squalor," he said.
The protesters demanded that the government pay their passage
home to the neighboring island of Halmahera.
Thousands have died since fighting broke out between Muslims
and Christians in the provinces of North Maluku and Maluku in
1999. Around 10,000 people have fled the violence.
Many have yet to return despite a peace accord signed by the
warring sides in 2001. The clashes have since abated but sporadic
violence continues.
Ambushes on public transportation vehicles and bomb attacks
remain a threat to the peace agreement.
In the Maluku provincial capital, Ambon, police defused a bomb
planted outside the local public works' office on Monday.
A resident, Popy Moniharapon, discovered the bomb as she was
about to open up a restaurant nearby. She reported the bomb to
her employer, Maxi Usmani, who then contacted the police.
The bomb measured 20 centimeters in diameter and was armed
when the police arrived, Antara reported.
Ambon island military commander Lt. Col. Yudy Zanibar urged
the public to remain calm. "I hope that this large bomb will not
affect the improving security situation in the city of Ambon,"
Yudy said.
Fewer bomb attacks have been recorded so far this year in
Ambon. Bomb explosions rocked the city several times last year,
with the worst one, which killed at least four people and wounded
over 50 others, coming in April.