Rival Maluku leaders agree to end three-year conflict

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.