Thousands flee following renewed unrest in Poso

The Jakarta Post Jakarta

Some 2,000 people have taken refuge in safer areas in Poso town following a spate of recent attacks in Poso regency, a senior local official said on Tuesday.

"We are gathering data on the number of new refugees in Poso. But a preliminary estimate shows that there are about 2,000 people," the chief of the Central Sulawesi social welfare office, Andi Azikin Suyuti, was quoted by Antara as saying in Palu, capital of Central Sulawesi province on Tuesday.

Based on independent reports, more than 1,600 people have taken refuge in the town after their houses were set ablaze or firebombed by unidentified gunmen over the last few months.

"Most of them are currently seeking shelter in Tentena and Poso town," Azikin said, adding that some of the new refugees had joined others who have been languishing in camps since they fled the ruins of their homes during the long-running sectarian conflict.

He also said some of them were those who had just returned home, but were forced to come back to the refugee camps due to the absence of shelter and security in their villages.

More than 24,600 families, or 110,000 people, were forced out of their home villages following two years of sectarian conflict between Muslims and Christians between 1998 and 2000 that claimed more than 2,000 human lives.

As of July 31, 2002, at least 9,902 families, comprising 43,308 refugees, or 39.29 percent of the total number, had returned home.

Azikin said the renewed attacks had also left at least 17 people dead, dozens injured and two missing, as well as 614 houses burned to the ground over the past three months.

The burned houses included 160 temporary houses built for refugees from Matako village in Tojo subdistrict and Sepe village in Lage subdistrict, he added.

Matako and Sepe, along with Batu Gencu village, all home to Christians, were among the targets for the recent grisly attacks by groups of unidentified armed men.

Azikin said the local government would continue to try to provide emergency assistance for all those affected by the recent violence.

But, social welfare officials were still unable to reach a number of villages as it was still too dangerous, he said.

"We will cooperate with local security forces to escort social workers who will distribute food aid in the violence-prone areas," Azikin added.

He said the provincial administration, assisted by the central government, would also rebuild the homes burned down during the recent unrest in Poso, unrest that has resurfaced despite two peace deals.

The latest attack was launched on Saturday on Kayumba village in Morowali regency, which borders Poso, leaving at least four people dead.

Meanwhile, dozens of Poso students in Jakarta staged a peaceful protest on Tuesday to demand that the government immediately put an end to the renewed attacks.

The protesters, calling themselves members of the Poso/Morowali Young People and Students' Communications Forum (Formasi), urged the government to take firm action against the armed assailants involved in the recent attacks, whose identities remained shrouded in a seemingly official cloak of secrecy.

The demonstrators, led by Benard Ndawu, were received by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, who brokered the peace accords to stop the fighting in Poso.

Kalla claimed the local police and military had been firm against troublemakers in attempting to restore peace and order in Poso, had deployed reinforcement troops and were providing humanitarian assistance.

"The recent attacks ... are because there are still hard- liners within the warring communities," he said.

However, many of the victims who have suffered the brunt of the fresh violence doubted that the attackers were ordinary civilians as they were armed with automatic weapons, and moved and acted in a combat-trained manner.