Christians in Indonesia Flee Their
Homes as Attacks Spread
Police Reinforcements Fail to
Curtail Panic in Sulawesi
Special to Compass Direct
LONDON, October 21 (Compass) - Villagers in Central Sulawesi,
Indonesia, are
once again fleeing for their lives. They are reacting to recent
attacks on four
villages in the Poso district by bands of masked raiders armed
with automatic
weapons. Even the deployment of extra armed forces to secure the
area has had
little effect upon the worried inhabitants.
"People are too scared to remain in their isolated villages,"
said Mona
Saroinsong, coordinator of the Crisis Center of the Protestant
Church in North
Sulawesi. "They have been walking through the jungle to the
coast or making for
Tentena, the nearest Christian town. When I questioned them, they
said they did
not trust the authorities to protect them."
Following the October 11 attack on the village of Old Beteleme, (see
Compass
Direct news flash, October 14) a further assault was launched in
the early
hours of Sunday morning, October 12, on three villages closer to
the town of
Poso.
Saatu, Pantangolemba and Pinedapa all had large Christian
populations. The
attackers sought out the homes of known Christians and forced
them into the
street where they were shot. Police reported that nine people
lost their lives
and 11 more were hospitalized.
Investigating the attacks, police have discovered bullet casings
and weaponry
which match illegal arms confiscated in Poso town during the
previous violence
of 2000.
National police chief General Da'i Bachtiar was shocked by the
attack on Old
Beteleme and the other villages. In particular, Old Beteleme was
considered to
be in a relatively peaceful area that had avoided much of the
violence.
In Koroworu, a village not far from Old Beteleme, the local
police encountered
a group of 20 armed intruders. Shots were exchanged and at least
one man is
believed to have been killed, but his body fell into the river
and was not
recovered.
Two additional companies of police have been moved into the
Morowali and Poso
districts, bringing the number of armed police in the area to
more than 2,000.
Some Christian men have agreed to return to their villages, which
are now under
heavy police protection, but have left their women and children
elsewhere,
fearing new attacks. Especially vulnerable are villages such as
Malewa and
Galuga, where Christians have resettled.
In Lembomawo village near Poso, the police advised the Christians
to evacuate
their women and children after receiving several reports of
strangers gathering
behind the village.
In another troubling incident, a young Muslim fish-seller was
found drowned in
the Poso river, his body covered by a rice sack and weighed down
with a stone.
The authorities are saying he was killed near Pandiri, a majority
Christian
village, with the implication that Christians have begun to
retaliate.
"This is very troubling for the Christian people who worry
that isolated
incidents like this will be blown out of all proportion, and that
the violence
will be blamed on them when they are the innocent victims,"
said Saroinsong.
"The chief of police added insult to injury when he attended
this man's funeral
but ignored the funerals of the 11 Christians in the villages,"
added
Saroinsong.
"There is growing chaos and unabated fear spreading
throughout the Christian
community. Please continue to petition the Indonesian government
to do
something about the root cause of the violence -- rather than
patch over the
cracks -- and make both sides adhere to the Malino agreement.
Please keep
praying for us here."