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| Police disarm mobs as killing
rages on 大屠杀仍在继续 |
 JAKARTA
- Mobs of indigenous
Dayaks torched more homes in Borneo yesterday as security forces
made their first attempt to seize weapons and stop the slaughter
of Madurese immigrants.
Screaming "Long live the Dayaks!" mobs swept through the outskirts
of the Central Kalimantan capital, Palangkaraya, witnesses said,
burning homes abandoned by Madurese.
A military spokesman said special forces troops from the Army's
airborne unit would soon be sent into Borneo, although he did not
say when. The Army's feared Kopassus special forces would not be
dispatched, as some local media reported, he added.
The fresh violence around Palangkaraya came as security forces fanned
out through the city, seizing spears and swords from Dayaks who
are believed to be responsible for the deaths of several hundred
people in nine days of ethnic
savagery.
Witnesses said police seized hundreds of weapons in the first attempt
to disarm the marauding Dayaks,
who have forced more than 30,000 Madurese immigrants to flee the
region.
"No one is now allowed to bring weapons on to the streets. This
operation will go on," Palangkaraya police chief J.A. Sumampouw
said by telephone from the city, 850km northeast of Jakarta.
Hundreds of thousands of Madurese have settled in Borneo in the
past few decades as part of a Government plan to ease crowding on
heavily populated Java and Madura islands.
But the Madurese are resented for their relative affluence.
President Abdurrahman Wahid, on a two-week trip to the Middle East
and Africa, said that two battalions of soldiers had been sent to
the jungles of Central Kalimantan to search for any Madurese refugees
who might be in hiding.
Officials plan to evacuate 10,000 Madurese estimated to remain in
Sampit, scene of some of the worst slaughter.
Thousands of refugees have fled south by ship to the city of Surabaya
in Java since the violence began. Most carried just a few possessions
and almost all had horrific tales to tell.
The massacres have given Wahid's
enemies fresh ammunition to attack the Muslim cleric, already under
pressure after a parliamentary censure on February 1 over two graft
scandals.
But Wahid said that despite demands he return to Indonesia, he would
continue his trip because of assurances from chief security minister
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the national police chief.
Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri planned to visit the area soon,
Yudhoyono said.
Highlighting Indonesia's many headaches, the US State Department
said that the country's human rights situation steadily worsened
in 2000, mostly through ethnic, social and religious strife in the
country's most unstable provinces.
Despite Wahid's efforts to build on Indonesia's democratic transition
of 1999, violence by security forces and separatist groups resulted
in widespread human rights abuses, it said.
In Sampit, officials said security was now under control, although
schools and many shops in Sampit and Palangkaraya were closed.
"Things are getting back to normal, although basic needs are limited
because many shops are still shut," Palangkaraya police spokeswoman
Andi Selvy said.
West Kalimantan province, scene of sporadic massacres between the
two groups, was also reported to be relatively calm.
Adding to the picture of carnage, newspapers reported the discovery
of 118 fresh corpses.
The Jakarta Post quoted police as saying the bodies had been found
dumped outside a local government office on Monday in Parenggean
district, 100km from Sampit.
The newspaper said the dead were believed to be Madurese refugees
fleeing Sampit for Palangkaraya, a four-hour drive away.
Kompas said the 118 were killed on Sunday.
- REUTERS
Summary:
印尼警察试图收缴暴徒的武器，同时，惊人的大屠杀却仍在继续，星期天，又有118人死亡。
Words:
mob [n] 暴徒
indigenous [adj] 本地的
ethnic [adj] 人种的，种族的
maraud 掠夺
affluence [n] 富裕，富足
massacre [n] 大屠杀
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(转自英文锁定) | |
(2001/03/01,08:54) |
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