Warring parties head for peace talks in Malino

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.