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JAKARTA, July 12 (AFP) - Indonesian military chief Admiral Widodo Adisucipto on Wednesday said that he would soon dispatch two more battalions to the riot-torn Maluku islands to help stem Muslim-Christian violence there. Speaking after attending a cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office, Widodo said the reinforcements would be sent to "enhance" security, the state Antara news agency reported. The admiral has said that there are already 19 battalions of soldiers and police, including two sent as replacements last week, in the provinces of Maluku and North Maluku. One Indonesian battalion is made up of about 650 men. Jakarta declared a state of civil emergency in the islands on June 27th to stem a new upsurge of violence between Christians and Muslims. Widodo said raids by security forces in the Malukus have led to the confiscation of 3,380 homemade firearms, 3,009 makeshift bombs, 117 knives and machetes and 305 hand grenades. He said the raids would continue. Violence between Muslims and Christians in the islands has left more than 4,000 people dead in the past 18 months, with more than 100 people killed and hundreds wounded since June 21 in Ambon, the capital of the Malukus. Two Christian church leaders and a Muslim leader left Jakarta last weekend for Geneva to appeal to the U.N. Commissioner on Human Rights for help in finding a solution to the dragging conflict, which has driven more than half a million people from their homes. |
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