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