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.