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State human rights agency calls for U.N. intervention in Maluku war |
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August 5, 2000
JAKARTA,(AP) - Indonesia's state-appointed National Commission for Human Rights called Friday for a U.N. peacekeeping mission to help end the longrunning Christian-Muslim war in the Maluku islands. The commission's secretary general Asmara Nababan said many Indonesian soldiers and police officers were taking sides in the conflict and without international assistance the fighting would continue. "The United Nations needs to send civilian police to help mediate a cease-fire," he said. "If that doesn't work then peacekeepers will be needed." Nababan said the commission issued a statement earlier this week calling on President Abdurrahman Wahid to request a U.N. peacekeeping mission. Last month, Wahid said some international assistance - such as equipment or logistical help - may be required to end the sectarian violence. But he ruled out the possibility of international peacekeepers. The Jakarta Post newspaper on Friday called on the government to seriously consider the commission's recommendations. "How many more thousands of people must die and how many more hundreds of thousands of people must flee before the nation takes a decisive step to end the violence there," the paper asked in its editorial. In an attempt to halt the bloodshed, the government imposed a state of emergency two months ago. But the move has done little to defuse fierce street battles, which this week alone have left at least 38 people dead. Maluku and nearby North Maluku provinces, about 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) northeast of Jakarta, have been plagued by sectarian violence that has claimed nearly 4,000 lives since January 1999. Animosity has been stoked by an influx of Muslim settlers from other parts of the country. The newcomers have upset the balance between the two communities and many now dominate retail trading - siphoning off business from Christians. In the past few months, much of the violence has been blamed on the arrival of thousands of members of an Islamic vigilante group, the Laskar Jihad or Holy War Force. The Indonesian military said about 1,900 members of the Laskar Jihad would be expelled from the islands, but so far no action has been taken. |