Two people killed in fresh violence on Buru islands

Two people killed in fresh violence on Buru islands

AMBON, Maluku (JP): A fresh bout of violence broke out on the
southern part of Buru island in the disputed province of Maluku
on Saturday, killing at least two locals, leaving scores of
houses burned or demolished.

The 30-minute blitz began at about 7:30 a.m. on Saturday
at the village of Waenalut in Buru Selatan district, Buru regency
as a group of armed rioters launched attacks and burned seven
houses, killing two residents, Yusuf Solisa and Tety Solisa.

A survivor of the blitz, Max Saleky, said that both Yusuf and
Tety were shot dead by rioters.

"The assailants arrived from Waenalut by water in a long
boat," a local Buru leader named Emphi Sahetapi quoted Max as
saying.

The attackers were wearing black costumes and masks and were
holding standard military weapons, the witness said.

Maluku Civil Emergency spokesman Maj. Marthen Luther Djari
confirmed the incident to The Jakarta Post by phone from Ambon on
Saturday, and added that Central Maluku Military personnel have
been dispatched to the village.

Locals said the gunmen were using a similar modes of operation
to a previous bloody attack on April 1 at the village of Kase,
also in Buru Selatan district, which killed four people. Three
others were recorded missing after the Kase incident.

Both Waenalut and Kase are predominantly Christian villages
located on the shores of Buru island.

Terrified residents have fled to the jungle and the actual
number of casualties have not been immediately available.

Sahetapi further blamed security forces for the attack, as
the area is supervised by the Tanjung Pura 623/Infantry
Battalion.

"How can they let these attacks continue?" Sahetapi said,
adding that those in charge of the civil emergency must provide
tight protection in the area, as from a total of 21 villages,
there are only six villages that have remained unharmed along the
southern shore of Buru island.

"We demand that security forces remain neutral and protect
members of the public from those rioters," he said.

More than two years of communal conflict in the Malukus have
claimed some 8,000 lives and no less than 230,000 others have
became refugees.

A fragile period of calm occurred across the strife-torn
islands after the civil emergency status was imposed to both
Maluku and North Maluku provinces on June 27, 2000 in a bid to
curb widespread violence. But sporadic attacks continue to take
place as groups of armed rioters constantly seek to stir civil
unrest in the province.

Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) representative in the
disputed province of Maluku issued on Saturday an objection to
the Maluku Sovereignty Front separatist movement, which hoisted a
U.N. flag alongside the rebel pennant in a ceremony on April 25.

Area coordinator and head of operations of the United Nations
resource center in Maluku, Svante Skoog, told the media on
Saturday that his office strongly objected to the FKM motion.

"We do not support such a motion and the FKM has never asked
for U.N. permission for the flag-hoisting ceremony. The presence
of the United Nations office in Ambon does not have anything to
do with politics," Skoog said.

A brief 10-minute flag-hoisting ceremony took place on April
25 at the house of FKM leader Alex Manuputty in the Kudamati area
of Nusaniwe district at about 7 a.m., but shortly afterwards the
flag was pulled down by police.

The separatist flag was hoisted alongside a United Nations
flag and the Indonesian national red-and-white pennant. (49/edt)