Traumatized residents leave troubled area

Traumatized residents leave troubled area

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of traumatized residents continued to
leave parts of Ambon and East Timor on Wednesday in the aftermath
of violent clashes in the two areas.

Four died during clashes between pro and anti-integration
groups in Suai, the capital of Kovalima regency in East Timor.

On Wednesday, regent Herman Setiono told The Jakarta Post the
dead had not yet been identified. The clashes first broke out on
Monday. On the same day the government announced that it might
consider granting East Timor independence if ongoing negotiations
on the status of the province failed.

Reuters quoted an aid worker as saying that more than 2,700
refugees were camped in Suai, 90 kilometers southeast of Dili.

The agency also quoted Florentino Sarmento, the head of the
National Commission on Human Rights' Dili office, as saying that
armed clashes were taking place daily throughout the province and
that around 50 people had been killed in the past six months.

"The problem is that the Armed Forces have distributed rifles
to groups that they favor," he said without elaborating.

East Timor Military Commander Col. Tono Suratman was not
available for comment on Wednesday.

Separately in Dili, work ground to a halt at the general
hospital after relatives of a child who had died there threatened
to kill a doctor. Medical staff staged a protest and said they
would cease work for a month to demonstrate their anger at the
lack of security at the hospital. They said the lack of security
had been evident on a number of occasions.

In Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, 1,200 migrants arrived home
arrived from Ambon following last week's riots in which at least
54 people died.

The group, which included 135 infants, were greeted by Maj.
Gen. Suaidi Marasabessy. Six hundred of the refugees came from
Bone regency on Ambon and included traders who had operated on
the island for many years. Many had their business premises
destroyed during the riots.

Mustari, 40, from Jeneponto regency in South Sulawesi, said he
was relieved to return home. He said he spent four days
sheltering in Ambon's Al Fatah mosque after becoming separated
from his wife and three children during the riots.

In Telagakodok village, 40 kilometers north of Ambon, around
1,300 residents continued to shelter in a nearby military base
following last week's attack on their village. Associated Press
quoted one mother as saying her seven-year-old son was missing.

Elsewhere in Ujungpandang on Wednesday, a church on Jl.
Andalas was set on fire by unknown people at around 12:30 a.m.
Police chief Col. Jusuf Mangga Barani said he suspected the
arsonists used Molotov cocktails to set the church alight. Nobody
was hurt in the incident.

In Cilacap, Central Java, local residents ran amok in Kumbir
district and set fire to a motorcycle and a forest guards' post.
A West Banyumas forestry official said the unrest flared up after
duty officers caught five residents of a nearby village stealing
wood, who then ran amok with 100 angry villagers. (45/33/27/30)