JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Warring Christians and Muslims from Indonesia's Maluku province began two days of peace talks on Monday, aiming to end one of the bloodiest conflicts in Southeast Asia.
Up to 10,000 people have been killed in fighting that erupted in the archipelago in January 1999 and now involves paramilitaries from Indonesia's main island of Java.
Welfare Minister Jusuf Kalla met separately with the two delegations of religious and community leaders in a resort hotel in Malino in south Sulawesi, 1,000 miles northeast of Jakarta.
"At today's meeting both parties agreed they wanted peace," Kalla said. "Every problem can be resolved (in a way) that is fair for the parties."
A joint session is planned for Tuesday.
"We have to be optimistic," said Tony Pariela, a member of the Christian delegation. "This is not only a problem concerning Muslims and Christians (in Maluku) but a national Indonesian problem."
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes in the province known as the Spice Islands during Dutch colonial rule. The old capital of Ambon was devastated by fighting and its two communities now are divided by a strip of no man's land.
Fighting escalated sharply in mid-2000 when thousands of fighters belonging to the Laskar Jihad militia -- or Holy War Troops -- arrived from Java.
The paramilitaries attacked and burned dozens of Christian villages, with army troops joining attacks on Christian neighborhoods in Ambon, located about 1,600 miles northeast of Jakarta.
It was not immediately clear whether representatives from Laskar Jihad were participating in Monday's talks. The group's leaders say their aim is to eradicate Christianity in the Malukus, home to about 2.1 million people.
Muslims account for about 85 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people, but Muslims and Christians are split almost evenly in the Malukus.
Former President Abdurrahman Wahid's administration claimed the sectarian conflict was started by hardline army commanders opposed to civilian rule after decades of military-backed dictatorship.
The violence decreased in mid-2001, when then-Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri ousted Wahid. The army brass backed Megawati's rise to power and her administration has ended efforts to introduce civilian rule over the armed forces.