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)