Warring parties head for peace talks in Malino

Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar

In the midst of a brutal religious war that has claimed thousands of lives over the last three years in Poso, Central Sulawesi, delegations from the two conflicting factions have arrived in Makassar on their way to Malino to hold peace talks and end the conflict.

Before moving to Malino, a hill resort in South Sulawesi province, a total of 75 delegates, including tribal leaders and those representing an extreme group, met with Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla and local officials at the residence of South Sulawesi Governor H.Z.B. Palaguna in the South Sulawesi capital.

Coordinating Minister Kalla who represented the central government, said after the meeting that the Malino talks would focus on four main matters, security, socioeconomy, law enforcement and politics.

He said delegations have agreed with the meeting's main agenda to seek a political solution to the conflict, to enforce the law and to uphold justice, to repatriate refugees and to rehabilitate all assets which were damaged during the conflict.

The central government has been criticized for its slow reaction to the violence and for its failure to hold reconciliation talks between the warring factions in the conflict that erupted in 1998 and exploded again in the last two months. The vicious cycle of violence sparked condemnation locally and internationally.

Scores of people have been killed in the most recent phase of the conflict which involves local Christians and Muslims, many of whom are from an extreme paramilitary group, the Java-based Laskar Jihad. Moreover, hundreds of houses, worship places and school buildings have been burned or damaged since the conflict flared up again in early November

Previously, Kalla said all religious and tribal figures who were invited to the meeting were expected to have a strong commitment to creating peace in restive Poso.

"We hope all delegations representing conflicting factions in Poso will join the meeting and discuss all problems with a cool head in order to calm down the heated situation in the regency," he said, adding that the government would play its role as a mediator in the talks.

He guaranteed the government would not intervene in the talks but function as a facilitator for the warring sides to resolve their problems.

Kalla hailed the meeting as a preliminary process to create a permanent resolution to the conflict which will ultimately be aimed at avoiding further bloodshed and military operations.

All delegations, he said, should bear in mind that if the talks failed to work out a peace agreement, the bloodshed would continue while security authorities would launch a military operation to restore security and order in the regency.

"Our main focus is for the two sides to sit together at the table to hold talks and make significant progress to end the conflict," he said.

He explained that the meeting was a preliminary one, but nonetheless an important event, and would be followed up with further meetings to seek new steps to create peace in Poso.

The South Sulawesi Provincial Police deployed around 300 security personnel to step up security in Malino, a tourist resort in Gowa Regency, 30 kilometers north of Makassar.

As of Tuesday, the security personnel have been conducting an operation to secure the location so it is free from any possible disruptions when the meetings take place on Wednesday and Thursday.

Insp. Gen. Firman Gani, chief of the provincial police, warned that the police would take strict actions against anybody who attempted to disrupt the meeting.

Asked about any possible demonstrations in the small town, Firman said that all groups will be allowed to stage demonstrations during the meeting on the condition that they are held in accordance with the law.

"Anybody is allowed to demonstrate but they are not allowed to disturb or disrupt the talks," he warned.