TITLE: Maluku Church Begs UN to Send Foreign Troops

AUTHOR:

PUB: The Sydney Morning Herald

DATE: December 27, 2000

The Catholic Church in the Maluku islands has appealed to the United Nations for foreign troops to help contain the bloody two-year conflict between Muslims and Christians. With 5,000 dead, half a million refugees and no end in sight to the fighting since it broke out in January last year, the Bishop of Ambon, Monseigneur Mandagi, called on the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, for help. "The most urgent actual need, which should have priority, is: the presence of international security forces, international and independent survey and investigation teams to restore law and respect for human rights," said the appeal, a copy of which was obtained in Jakarta. "Most of the victims are just simple people who are poor and defenceless, innocent and blameless," the bishop said in the Christmas SOS. He said torture, rape, persecution and destruction of property were widespread. "Only recently became widely known the fact of immense and dramatic Islamisation of Christians, both by brutal force and by leaving them no choice. "These people urgently need to be freed and evacuated." The bishop listed several islands in the Malukus - including Kasui, Teor, Buru and Ceram - in which the alleged forced conversions of Protestants and Catholics had taken place, and put the figure at more than 600. Last week the Governor of the Malukus, Mr Saleh Latuconsina, admitted after receiving reports from a joint Muslim-Christian investigating team that the forced conversions had taken place, but gave no figures. The claims have been denied by the Muslim extremist Laskar Jihad (holy war warriors), which has sent thousands of fighters from other Indonesian islands to the Malukus to strengthen the Muslim side of the conflict. Monseigneur Mandagi said the Indonesian Government had proved itself incapable of stopping the bloodshed. "In all sincerity we appeal to the international community to assist the Indonesian Government in ending the conflict in the [Malukus]." In Ambon city, the Maluku capital, a 12-year-old boy is in hospital after being shot and wounded by an unknown gunman while leaving a Christmas Day mass yesterday. A lawyer with the Maranatha Christian centre in Ambon, Mr Sammy Weileruni, said sounds of gunshots, bombs and firecracker explosions had been heard throughout Christmas Eve night.The International Consultative Group (ICG) issued a report last week saying that although it felt the conflict would worsen in the coming year, foreign military intervention would not help end it. The ICG predicted higher death tolls in coming months, and called the conflict a "campaign of religious cleansing" in which the Indonesian Government was ineffective. But the group, which describes itself as a private, multinational research organisation producing regular analytical reports aimed at key international decision-takers, said foreign military intervention would be counter-productive, and "could easily lead to further destabilisation in Indonesia, and should not be sought". It recommended the placement of foreign observers, preferably from Indonesia's neighbours, in the islands and said foreign governments should impose or continue arms embargoes on Indonesia. END top