|
|
Police
dispatch troops, arrest 27 in Indonesia΄s Ambon city
|
Agence
France-Presse
Thu
Apr 26, 2002 |
JAKARTA, April 26 (AFP) - Hundreds
of police reinforcements were dispatched Friday to Indonesia's
eastern city of Ambon after more explosions overnight, further
undermining a shaky peace pact.
But police said a semblance of normalcy was slowly returning to
the strife torn area, after blasts and angry demonstrations on
Thursday's 52nd anniversary of the outlawed Republic of South
Maluku (RMS) left six people injured.
"Today's situation is much better compared to yesterday
although there were at least two explosions last night,"
Ambon detective chief commissioner Johnny Tangkudung told AFP by
telephone. There were no reports of injuries in the overnight
blasts.
Shops, markets, schools and most offices in downtown Ambon, the
capital of Maluku province, reopened and public transport vehicles
began plying their trade early Friday, he said.
National police chief General Da'i Bachtiar said at least 200
crack anti-riot Brimob police left from Jakarta for Ambon to boost
security.
Top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the troops
were dispatched before dawn on two C-130 Hercules aircraft.
Local police meanwhile arrested 27 Ambonese for setting banned RMS
flags aloft, Tangkudung said.
Tensions erupted Thursday when balloon-borne RMS flags began
floating over the city, infuriating loyalist Muslims who took to
the streets in protest.
Troops fired at the balloons and fired warning shots at the
protestors to prevent them from marching on Christian areas.
At least six blasts shook the city and crowds torched the
half-rebuilt Silo Protestant church, which was burnt to the ground
three years ago, after one of the blasts went off outside the
church.
The predominantly Christian RMS, which was declared in 1950 but
only resurfaced in the Maluku islands in 1999 after widespread
sectarian unrest broke out, is opposed by local Muslims who accuse
it of fanning the religious tensions.
Thursday's violence further threatened a shaky two-month-old peace
pact between warring Christian and Muslim camps, known as the
Malino Two accord.
A fragile peace that followed the signing of the accord in
February was first punctured by a deadly bomb explosion and the
torching of the Maluku governor's office on April 3. At least four
people died in what authorities portrayed as a deliberate effort
to sabotage the pact.
Yudhoyono said the troop reinforcements were on alert for fresh
riots ahead of a Muslim prayer rally planned to follow Friday
prayers.
The anti-riot police were ready to "take the necessary
steps" to crush any attempts to turn the prayer rally
violent.
"The troops will provide reinforcement if there is any
escalation or concentration of mobs suspected of provoking fresh
riots," he told reporters on the sidelines of a business
seminar in Jakarta.
Yudhoyono castigated Maluku authorities for failing to prevent
Thursday's chaos.
"This time I wish the civil emergency authorities and local
leaders in Maluku will be really sterner and prevent the region
from being continuously ignited by a mere small group of people
there," he was quoted as saying by the state Antara news
agency.
He said he wanted the Maluku civil emergency authority, which has
been in place since September 2000, to be "absolutely
firm" in handling security in the province.
"On behalf of President Megawati (Sukarnoputri) I instructed
that those found igniting new violence in Ambon must be given
legal sanctions," Yudhoyono said.
More than 5,000 people have been killed and more than 500,000 left
homeless in the Christian-Muslim clashes which have ravaged Maluku
since early 1999.
More than 80 percent of Indonesia's 214 million people are Muslims
but in some eastern regions, including the Maluku islands,
Christians make up about half the population.
|
