Three killed in fresh violence in Maluku

Three killed in fresh violence in Maluku

Novi Pinontoan, The Jakarta Post, Ambon

After months of tense calm, violence returned to Maluku with the
murder of three villagers following attacks by groups of gunmen
in the Buru islands early on Thursday.

The armed attackers, numbering hundreds of people, raided the
predominantly Christian village of Waimulang on Buru island in
the province of Maluku. They launched land and sea assaults at
around 7 a.m. local time, officials said.

The rioters vandalized and burned down almost all 350 houses
in the village, while over 1,000 residents were forced to flee to
the jungle for safety.

Police chief Brig. Yopi Tutupari, a member of Leksula Police,
radioed authorities in Maluku's capital of Ambon and said that
the security personnel were outnumbered by attackers arriving in
at least 14 vessels at Pasir Putih beach near the village.

Armed attackers also launched assaults from the western part
of the village, the officer said.

Three villagers died in the attacks while the status of at
least 13 military officers from the Armed VIII unit who were
trapped during the incident is still unknown. Three police
officers and two military personnel from the Armed VIII unit
managed to escape the fray unharmed.

A number of representatives from South Buru, led by John
Lestusa, met with the Maluku civil emergency authorities and
protested the sluggish handling of the incident. Civil emergency
status was imposed in Maluku and North Maluku provinces in May
2000.

"We are very concerned about this incident. More than 1,000
people are now hiding in jungles and cannot return home because
rioters occupied their village," John said.

People were distressed because the strike triggered chaos amid
the restabilized situation in Maluku, John added.

Civil emergency official, who is also Maluku deputy governor,
Paula Renyaan, along with legal officer Muhammad Ely, informed
that Pattimura Military Commander Brig. Gen. Mustopo had deployed
troops to the village to remove rioters.

"We have also received reports stating that there were 15
military personnel from the Armed VIII Unit and three police
officers in the area when the rioters launched the strikes. But
13 of those military officers are still missing. We don't know
whether they survived and managed to get out of there or are
being held captive by the rioters," Paula said.

Paula also promised to send an investigation team from the
civil emergency authority to review the incident.

Conflicts in both Maluku and North Maluku provinces -- which
were formerly just one province -- broke out on Jan. 19, 1999
following a petty dispute between migrants and locals in Ambon,
the capital of Maluku.

The dispute quickly degenerated into a full-scale riot
involving Muslim and Christian communities, which claimed at
least 8,000 lives and drove more than 500,000 people away from
their homes.