Police bust gun shipment headed for Poso

Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar

City police in Makassar seized a shipment of two guns bound for nearby Poso on Wednesday, thwarting an apparent attempt to scuttle the Malino peace agreement signed by the Central Sulawesi regency's warring factions in December.

The two U.S.-made guns, engraved with the serial numbers 77190 Sera and 2196 Savage, were found in a package at the office of a cargo express company, Wislim Jaya Ekspres, located at Jl. Monginsidi Baru No. 3 in the city.

The package, which police confiscated, said Comr. Rudy Sudradjat, chief of the City Police's detective unit, also contained equipment with which to make handmade firearms and grenades, along with motorcycle spare parts.

The package was listed as being sent by Jein Kadjo in Makassar to an unlisted address in Poso.

"We are still chasing the sender," he said, while police investigators question two staff members of the cargo company.

City police have also confiscated two automatic weapons which were discovered in mid-December after a group of unidentified men tried to send them to Poso.

Police were helped in no small part by "local people who are committed to creating a peaceful and secure situation in the regency," said Sudrajat.

The police, he added, would continue to block the supply of illegal guns and explosives to Poso to implement the peace agreement in the conflict-torn regency.

Meanwhile, the situation in Poso is gradually returning to normal two weeks after the signing of the Malino declaration, according to Madewa, an independent organization set up by the local chapter of the Indonesian Journalists' Association (AJI) to witness the agreement's implementation.

Over the last ten days, in a further sign that peace is taking hold, traditional markets in Poso have been crowded by people from different religious communities and ethnicities that had previously experienced mutual hostility, while transportation to and from Poso has returned into normal.

During the Idul Fitri holidays, Christians came down to streets to greet Muslim travelers and during Christmas, Muslims visited their Christian neighbors to convey their Christmas greeting.

Local officials in Poso, including the provincial police chief, also held a post-Idul Fitri gathering in the presence of religious and informal leaders at the Poso regent's residence and, conversely, a Christmas gathering in the predominantly Christian Tentena.

Ahead of the deadline set by the warring factions to surrender their weapons, the Muslim group voluntarily handed down around 500 handmade firearms to local security authorities.

Besides an end the prolonged conflict, warring factions have also agreed to offer a one-month-long amnesty period -- between Jan. 7 and Feb. 6, 2002 -- during which all militias in Poso and their supporters must surrender their guns and ammunition to local police.

According to Madewa, the socialization of the Malino declaration will be hindered because the two factions have yet to form a task force to make a coordination.

"The campaign of the Malino Declaration should be conducted by a joint task force from the two conflicting camps to entrust both Poso Muslims and Christians," he said.