Police fail to arrest minister in Poso

The Jakarta Post, Manado/Jakarta

Police in the conflict-torn town of Poso, Central Sulawesi, are seeking the Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, who they have accused of provoking renewed violence there, his relatives and church activists said on Wednesday.

But the police's efforts to arrest the minister on Tuesday ended in failure, after his supporters in the Christian area of Tentena blocked officers.

"The police tried to enter Tentena to arrest Pak Damanik on Tuesday, but people here went into the streets to block them," Edi, a relative of Damanik, told The Jakarta Post.

He said Damanik, a minister known for his hard-line on the Poso conflict, remained in his home and would not go into hiding.

The Poso Police have declared Damanik a suspect in a spate of recent attacks in the area, most of which have targeted Christians.

Church activists in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi, confirmed the police's attempt to arrest Damanik using a helicopter.

"A helicopter carrying security personnel, including the Central Sulawesi Police chief and the Poso Police chief, was ready to land in Tentena but was prevented from doing so," said Mona Saroin-song, the coordinator of the Crisis Center of churches in the province.

Damanik recently told the Post he was prepared to be placed under arrest if the police could provide evidence of his involvement in any attacks.

He and many other Christian leaders shunned the second round of peace talks held earlier this month in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu. The talks were called in attempt to quell renewed violence between Christians and Muslims in Poso.

Dominggos da Silva, a local leader who was sentenced to death for his role in the two-year sectarian conflict in Poso, which has left some 2,000 people dead, provided police with the names of 16 people he said were involved in provoking the violence.

Local Christian leaders said the authorities' attempt to arrest Damanik without first producing sufficient evidence was "irrational".

"Why do the police want to arrest the Reverend Damanik, who is known as a Christian leader who loves peace. He has always been wise in dealing with the situation during the conflict," Mona said.

Mona also questioned the police's reluctance to arrest Muslim leaders, such as Adan Arsal, who Christians have accused of provoking attacks.

A partial peace returned to Poso several months after Muslim and Christian representatives, including Damanik, signed a peace deal last December in the South Sulawesi resort of Malino.

But since June there has been a renewal of the violence, with the identities and whereabouts of the attackers remaining a mystery.

Victims of the recent attacks have described armed assailants carrying automatic weapons, dressed in white or black clothes with white sashes around their waists.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said on Wednesday a third round of Poso peace talks would take place next month in Palu.

"We will organize another meeting of leaders from the warring communities in Poso in September 2002, so they will be able to adhere to the agreements reached at the Malino I forum," said Kalla, who brokered the first round of talks.