Armed militants rampaged through a
predominantly Christian village in Indonesia's Maluku province early Sunday, killing
14 people and prompting fears that a peace deal reached in February may be
dead.
A six-month old baby and four-year old child were among those killed. Locals
and police believe the attackers were Muslims. Victims were either stabbed,
shot or burned to death, a Catholic priest said by phone Monday.
Eyewitnesses said the men were masked, dressed in black and armed with firearms
and knives when they stormed Soya village, five kilometers from the provincial
capital, Ambon.
A church and some 30 homes were torched during the raid.
Some villagers said a number of the attackers had worn Indonesian military
(TNI) uniforms and carried M-16 rifles with bayonets attached.
Maluku army spokesman Major Herry Suhardy denied soldiers were involved, saying
"any rioter could use TNI uniform. Such an act is an attempt to discredit
the TNI."
Hundreds of troops were sent into the area, and a nighttime curfew was enforced
in a bid to prevent further outbreaks of violence.
Two days before the attacks, the leader of a radical Islamic militia told
supporters in Ambon to ignore the February peace accord, which many hoped would
end more than three years of sectarian violence in Maluku.
Laskar Jihad commander Jafar Umar Thalib told thousands of Muslims attending a
rally after Friday mosque prayers that it was not the time for peace in Maluku.
"From today, we will no longer talk about reconciliation," Jafar was
quoted as saying. He also reportedly called the provincial governor a traitor
and the peace deal "treason."
Muslims at the rally tried to march toward Christian areas, precipitating a
tense standoff with armed police.
Laskar Jihad, a group headquartered on the main Indonesian island of Java, sent
thousands of fighters to Maluku after violence erupted in January 1999.
Many Christians blame the group for much of the bloodshed that has ravaged the
area since then, while also accusing elements in the military of colluding in
the violence. Estimates of fatalities from both communities range from 6,000 to
9,000.
'No peace until jihad warriors leave'
When Christian and Muslim representatives reached a government-brokered peace
deal two months ago, some observers expressed skepticism that the truce would
hold, since it failed to demand the removal from Maluku of the Laskar Jihad
fighters.
Fr. Cornelius Bohm of the Catholic Crisis Center said Monday there was little
doubt Laskar Jihad was behind the Sunday attacks. Witness accounts said the
attackers spoke in the Javanese language and with Javanese accents, he said by
phone from Ambon.
Christians widely believed there could be no peace until the "jihad
warriors' were forced to return home, added Bohm, who has been at the center
since it was opened six months after the religious violence began.
"It's not possible [for peace to be achieved] because they have only one
goal, to Islamize the whole of Indonesia, make it a Muslim state under shari'a
law. They won't stop before they have attained that goal," he said.
"I feel very disappointed with the overwhelming majority of moderate
Muslims who just let their religion be abused by this handful of
terrorists."
Jafar's call to arms was in response to the commemoration a day earlier by a
separatist-minded, mostly Christian group of a short-lived independence bid
half a century ago.
Despite a government crackdown, including a news blackout, curfews and arrests,
supporters of the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) went ahead with plans to raise
banned flags on Thursday's 52nd anniversary of the declaration of the breakaway
South Maluku Republic.
Christians comprise about half the population in the Maluku islands in the
otherwise Muslim-dominated Indonesia. The Republic was declared in 1950 by
nationalists wanting sovereignty apart from the newly-declared republic of
Indonesia.
The breakaway movement - which most local churches repudiate - was revived in
2000 under the name FKM, amid claims by Christians that the state was not
protecting them from Muslim attacks.
Separatist 'traitors'
Laskar Jihad has accused the FKM of spearheading violence against Muslims in
the province. The Laskar Jihad website, which bears a banner proclaiming
"Victory or martyrdom - jihad in Ambon," describes the movement as
"subversive" and "traitorous."
Bohm said most Christians are opposed to the FKM "fanaticism."
When Christians see the republican flags flying they don't rejoice, he said.
Rather it simply causes anxiety about the expected Muslim retaliation.
Bohm expressed fears that the peace deal may be dead.
Laskar Jihad's influence was "definitely increasing" since the
Java-based leader Jafar's arrival in the area. Had Jafar not delivered the
provocative speech Friday, he said, there may still have been Muslim reaction
to the FKM flag-raising episode, "but not slaughtering people, women and
children, in that cruel way."
Jafar is thought to have ties with some leading Indonesian politicians. Bohm
said Christians were convinced the government was afraid to crack down on
Laskar Jihad for fear of triggering violence elsewhere in the country.
Witnesses, including visiting U.S. pastors, late last year reported seeing
Laskar Jihad members manning roadblocks in another violence-hit province,
Central Sulawesi, displaying large pictures of Osama bin Laden, along with such
slogans as "he is our leader."
The organization has denied having any links with bin Laden, whom the U.S.
holds responsible for last September 11's terror attacks in New York and
Washington.
Although Jafar confirms having met the Saudi-born terrorist chief when both
were fighting in Afghanistan against Soviet forces there, he says he opposes
what bin Laden stands for.