'Poso violence beyond control'

'Poso violence beyond control'

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tasman Banto, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta/Palu

Security conditions in restive Central Sulawesi are getting out
of control due to the presence of an "unidentified group" which
continues stir renewed violence, according to a police officer.

Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Unggung Cahyono said on
Saturday that the group had a vast operation area around the
regency and was well-organized.

"It is difficult for us to minimize the movement of the group,
resulting in incidents which continue throughout the regency,"
Unggung told The Jakarta Post by phone.

He further said that due to a lack of personnel, the police
could not identify the group or their motives as they tended to
"hit and run" in their actions.

"We think these continuing incidents were committed by the
same group of people who attacked two villages last week," the
officer said.

Central Sulawesi Police Chief Brig. Gen. Zainal Abidin agreed
with Unggung, saying that a well-trained and well-organized group
were behind the series of attacks, mostly against Christians.

Speaking in the provincial capital of Palu, he said that the
situation in Poso was tense because of the incidents.

The latest violence occurred on Thursday evening, when an
Italian tourist and several local civilians were murdered after
their bus was ambushed by armed men near Mayoa village, some 200
kilometers south of Poso.

It was the fourth such random attack on a innocent civilians
in a passenger bus since Muslim and Christian leaders signed the
Malino peace accord to end nearly three years of conflict in
December 2001.

On Wednesday, the Poso Community Communication Forum (FKMTP)
reported attacks on the villages of Matako and Malito by a group
of armed men, who burned down dozens of houses and left several
people wounded a few days earlier.

Compounded by threats on another two villages, the forum asked
the central government to launch another operation to restore
order in the regency.

All the incidents came ahead of the follow-up dialog to
evaluate the implementation of the Malino peace agreement
scheduled for Sunday.

Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Yusuf Kalla, the man
behind the peace talks, and National Police Chief Gen. Da'i
Bachtiar were scheduled to attend the dialog.

Kalla said in Jakarta that the government vowed to capture the
perpetrators of the violence in Poso and had deployed a battalion
of troops to the restive town.

Unggung said that ever since the central government decided to
reduce the number of the security personnel in Poso, activities
of the unidentified armed group increased.

"However, I cannot say whether the continuing attacks are
related to the planned dialog," he said.

The attacks may threaten the resumption of the dialog as
signatories of the Malino agreement from Christian community
stated their rejection to attend because of the worsening
security condition.

A Christian leader, Sawerigading Pelima, said it would be
useless to hold the meeting if security authorities could not do
anything to deal with the armed group.

"We do not see the significance of the dialog because the
security conditions in Poso remain poor," Pelima said as quoted
by Antara.