Indonesian government ministers travelled to central Sulawesi today in a bid to quell religious conflict that has intensified since the arrival of Islamic extremists, the Laskar Jihad.
Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with religious groups in Poso, a small and remote coastal town backed by mountainous tropical forests.
The meeting came as 1,800 troops and police were sent to the district to intervene in fighting between Christians and Islamic groups which have been bolstered by the arrival mid-year of the Laskar Jihad.
The Java-based group is seen as responsible for escalating religious violence in the Maluku islands to the east over the past two years, where security forces failed to intervene in their activities until earlier this year.
But Yudhoyono reportedly said the operation would start with the disarming of rival camps and the expulsion of those from outside the area.
"It is high time to abandon the disproportionate fear of violating the principles of human rights in taking action against troublemakers," he said, according to Agence France-Presse.
Posters of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi national accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States, could be seen around Poso, according to an Australian-born Christian minister, Jeff Hammond, who visited the town last week.
"I saw Jihad forces with guns parading through the city of Poso ... I saw pictures of bin Laden with statements like 'this is our leader'," Hammond said.
However, other foreigners working in the area said it would be misleading to connect the conflict to bin Laden because most Islamic groups did not support him.
He said Muslim residents had found two badly mutilated bodies of people they claim were kidnapped by the military.
"The situation in Poso at the moment is relatively calm but I think this is due to the ministerial visit here," said Malik.
"I'm not sure what's going to happen once the visit ends."
Last week, Muslim groups reportedly attacked seven Christian villages in the region, forcing at least 8,000 people to flee their homes.
Foreign aid groups estimate that around 100,000 people have been forced to leave their villages as a result of the conflict, which started three years ago with a political battle for control of the regional government.
They cannot say how many have been killed over the past week when the Christian villages were attacked but some estimates put the death toll at seven.
Religious conflict broke out after the fall of former dictator Suharto when local politicians exploited differences between Christians and Muslims to gain control of the district.
A Christian attack on a Muslim boarding school in May 2000 in which 109 teenage boys were murdered triggered a steep escalation in the violence.
Around 350 people have been killed between May 2000 and the end of November, aid groups estimate.
On Monday, an empty church in Poso was burned down after 200 Muslims staged a protest outside the local military headquarters.
By Catharine Munro, South-East Asia Correspondent