Muslims, Christians clean places of worship in Ambon

Muslims, Christians clean places of worship in Ambon

For the first time since violent sectarian clashes broke out
between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia's Ambon island in
1999, members of both communities on Sunday jointly began to
clean mosques and churches there, a report said.

About 400 Muslims and Christians civilians from the Ahuru
area, in Ambon's Sirimau subdistrict, joined a number of soldiers
and officials on Sunday began to clean churches and mosques
there, the state Antara news agency said.

Unaffected by the heavy rains that fell on Ambon Sunday,
Christians cleaned the damaged Al Huda mosque while Muslims
cleaned the damaged Yakobus and Petra churches.

A local military commander who helped organize the event,
Colonel Haris Sarjana said that he has been coordinating with
representatives of both camps to speed up the renovation and
rebuilding of damaged houses and buildings.

Ambon island in the Malukus, has seen heavy sectarian clashes
since January 1999 that have left more than 5,000 people killed
and hundreds of thousands of refugees.

The government in February last year brokered a peace deal
between the two camps but sporadic violence continues.

More than 80 percent of Indonesia's 212 million people are
Muslims, but in some eastern regions, including the Malukus,
Christians make up about half the population. -- AFP