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Indonesian President: Foreign Role Seen in Muluku Unrest
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said that foreigners have been involved in the protracted communal bloodshed in the country's North Maluku and Maluku provinces which has killed thousands of people, leading newspapers reported Friday.
Making a statement in Kutai, East Kalimantan province Thursday, the president said that at least two foreign parties are involved in the 18-month long conflict in the two provinces, the Indonesian Observer daily reported.
"They were planting their influences in the two provinces," Wahid was quoted as saying, but he did not identify the names of the parties involved.
Maluku and North Maluku provinces have witnessed a prolonged communal bloodshed involving Muslims and Christians in which thousands of lives were claimed while thousands of others were forced to seek refuge in other parts of the country.
The central government has declared that the two provinces were closed to outsiders and imposed a civilian emergency and a curfew there.
So far there is no sign that the bloodshed is about to finish.
Meanwhile, another report said that the United Nations has established what it said as "a UN Resource Center" in Ambon, capital of Maluku Province. The center will become a base camp for a mixed UN team from different backgrounds.
The Observer quoted a press statement released by the UN Development Program (UNDP) as saying that the establishment of the center came after the UN and the Indonesian government discussed the UN mission in various parts of Maluku.
The mission, which consists of staff from the humanitarian unit at the world body such as the UNDP, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) is aimed at supporting local and international efforts to address humanitarian needs in the provinces.
Earlier, the Indonesian government has strongly opposed any possible foreign intervention in the Maluku's conflict, but said it may open to the humanitarian aid as well as infrastructure relief.
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