AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Thursday February 28, 2002 11:51 AM
Muslims, Christians mingle again in Indonesia's riot-torn Ambon
JAKARTA, Feb 28 (AFP) - Muslims and Christians have mingled freely for the first
time in years in the violence-torn eastern Indonesian city of Ambon after a mass rally
by Muslims to promote a peace pact, residents said Thursday.
A witness said Muslims held a rally in support of the peace deal at the Al Fatah main
mosque on Wednesday and then paraded across town, with Christians joining them.
The man, who identified himself as Lahanas, said more than 25,000 people had
attended the rally -- many of them schoolchildren or public servants.
Local Muslim leaders briefed people on the deal brokered by the government this
month. They stressed the need for peace to return to Ambon city and the island of the
same name as well as the rest of the Maluku islands.
Lahanas said people from the two faiths hugged each other or shook hands after the
rally.
"The city was really busy yesterday. For the first time in years, the segregation that
has divided this city ceased to exist," said Father Hendrik of the Synod of Christian
Churches in Ambon.
"People were actually shaking hands, hugging, talking to each other on the streets of
the city," Hendrik said.
In the past three years, the city has been divided into closed Christian and Muslim
districts.
Hendrik said Christian church leaders were also promoting the peace accord to
congregations across the island.
Maluku's Christian and Muslim leaders on February 12 signed an agreement to end
three years of sectarian bloodshed.
It began in Ambon in January 1999 with a minor neighbourhood quarrel and quickly
spread to other islands in the Malukus, leaving some 5,000 people killed and half a
million homeless.
The two sides vowed to halt all form of conflict and agreed on disarmament. Police
have set a deadline of Friday for people including soldiers or police to surrender illegal
weapons.
More than 80 percent of Indonesia's 214 million people are Muslims but in some
eastern regions, including the Malukus, Christians make up about half the population.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
|
