Rival Maluku leaders agree to end three-year conflict

Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Malino

Rival Muslim and Christian leaders agreed to end their three-year conflict in the troubled islands of Maluku during the first day of their peace talks here on Monday, government mediators said.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said the agreement was achieved when the government mediators he led met separately with the warring factions in the hill resort of Malino, around 76 kilometers from Makassar in South Sulawesi.

The 70 delegates also expressed optimism over the bright future of Maluku following the two-day talks at Malino's Celebes Villa Regent, he said.

"During the meetings with us, the two Muslim and Christian groups agreed to halt the conflict," Kalla told a media conference after separate talks the government team and observers had had with the Christian delegation led by Tony Pareila on Monday evening.

The two-hour meeting ended at 4:15 p.m.

Earlier in the day, the nine-member mediation team also held a separate 2.5-hour meeting with the 35 Muslim delegates led by Thamrin Ely, which started at 10 a.m.

On the final day of the talks on Tuesday, the opposing groups will meet at one table along with the mediators and observers to discuss more substantive issues.

The mediators include Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina, Pattimura Military Commander Brig. Gen. Mustopo, Maluku Legislative Council Speaker Z. Sahubura and South Sulawesi Governor H.Z.B. Palaguna.

Kalla further said the two factions had agreed to settle any new problems firmly and fairly through legal mechanisms.

The issues of rehabilitation efforts, security recovery and other technical matters would be discussed during Tuesday's plenary meeting, he added.

He said the feuding sides also agreed in principle to end the fighting by halting the involvement of both Muslim and Christian militias.

Thamrin Ely and Tony Pareila said the talks would be focusing on the two substantive issues of the Java-based Laskar Jihad militant group and the rebel South Maluku Republic (RMS). The two militia gangs have been blamed for worsening the conflict in Maluku.

"The Malino negotiations will be effective if the RMS issue can be thoroughly settled," Thamrin said. "We come here not for peace, but to end the conflict. One of the effective ways of achieving this is by resolving the RMS issue."

In response, Tony said Laskar Jihad had to end violence and stop making trouble in Maluku, adding that the talks ought to cope with that issue.

"In principle were are prepared to end the conflict. We are optimistic that everything will be as normal," he said. "The substance is that whoever violates the agreement in Malino should be dealt with firmly."

During the tightly guarded talks officials declined to say whether both Laskar Jihad and the RMS groups were represented in the rival delegations.

Kalla said both sides demanded that the central government establish a national team comprising members from outside Maluku to investigate gross human rights violations during the three- year conflict, which started on Jan. 19, 1999.

About 6,000 people have since been killed and some 500,000 others were forced to flee their homes.

Kalla said all differences voiced by both factions could be accommodated. "Should everything be addressed, then we are talking about peace in Maluku."

Hamid Awaluddin, a member of the monitoring team, said that judging from the first day of the talks, he was optimistic an agreement would be reached on the final day of the meeting.

"The key solution is how to halt the conflict in Maluku and after that peace will easily be achieved," he said.

However, South Sulawesi Governor H.Z.B. Palaguna said the Maluku conflict would be harder to settle because fighting had left "a deeper wound" there.

Separate talks in Malino last December, also hosted by Kalla, ended with a peace deal between Muslims and Christians in Poso regency in Central Sulawesi.

The government team had earlier held preparatory meetings with representatives from the two Maluku camps, both in Makassar and in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province.