INDONESIA: FIGHTING ERRUPTS BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND MOSLEMS IN RAVAGED EASTERN INDONESIAN ISLAND OF AMBON

Record ID: 375846

  • Title: INDONESIA: FIGHTING ERRUPTS BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND MOSLEMS IN RAVAGED EASTERN INDONESIAN ISLAND OF AMBON
  • Date: 24th December 1999
  • Summary: AMBON, INDONESIA (DECEMBER 24, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) **QUALITY AS INCOMING** 1. SV: SOLDIERS AND CROWD ON THE STREET (2 SHOTS) 0.07 2. MV: MILITARY BARRICADE 0.12 AMBON, INDONESIA (DECEMBER 26 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 3. VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS AND CROWD BEHIND A BARRICADE AS GUNFIRE RINGS OUT 0.20 4. VARIOUS PEOPLE IN STREETS CROUCHING WITH SOUND OF GUN SHOTS (2 SHOTS) 0.29 5. VARIOUS NIGHT SHOTS OF SILO CHURCH BURNING (4 SHOTS) 0.55 6. SLV: CAR BURNING 1.02 AMBON, INDONESIA (DECEMBER 27, 1999) (REUTERS -ACCESS ALL) 7. SLV: DAY TIME SHOTS OF BURNT SILO CHURCH 1.08 8. SLV: MEN CARRYING RIFLES WALKING 1.14 9. SV: MEN WITH RIFLES AND OTHER HOMEMADE WEAPONS SITTING BEHIND FENCE 1.18 10. MLV: SMOKE FROM BURNING BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 1.28 11. SLV: BURNING BUILDING 1.33 12. MV: VARIOUS OF MEN WITH GUNS CROUCHING (2 SHOTS) 1.41 13. MLV: BURNING BUILDING WITH SOUND OF GUNFIRE 1.50 14. MV: MEN WITH GUNS 1.57 15. MLV: PEOPLE IN STREETS FLEEING FROM GUNFIRE 1.58 16. MV: MAN WITH HOME MADE GUN WALKING (SOUND OF GUN SHOTS) 2.05 17. SV: DEAD MAN IN HOSPITAL 2.10 18. VARIOUS OF INJURED AT HOSPITAL (3 SHOTS) 2.26 19. MV: MEN WITH GUNS SITTING BY VAN FILLED WITH BELONGINGS 2.33 20. SV: FAMILY WITH BELONGINGS ON BOARD A PICK-UP TRUCK (2 SHOTS) 2.40 21. SV: MEN WITH RIFLES 2.46 22. SLV: VARIOUS OF BURNING BUILDING/ WIDE OF STREET WITH BURNING (2 SHOTS) 3.01 23. SLV: INJURED BEING LED TO A TRUCK (SOUND OF GUN SHOTS) 3.11 24. SLV: PEOPLE RUNNING ON THE STREET 3.16 25. SLV: PEOPLE FLEEING WITH THEIR BELONGINGS (2 SHOTS) 3.29 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 8th January 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AMBON, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVABED3M27MY7UKWCR0JLNRG4YCZ
  • Story Text: Fighting between Christians and Moslems has erupted
    in the ravaged eastern Indonesian island of Ambon, with more
    than 50 people feared dead and scores injured, including a
    Japanese man who was shot and wounded.

    The latest violence erupted in Ambon, the provincial
    capital of the Moluccas, on Sunday (December 26) after reports
    that a 14-year-old Moslem boy had been run over by a vehicle
    driven by a Christian.

    Soldiers tried but failed to stop residents armed with
    rifles and homemade weapons from taking to the streets.

    On Sunday evening, the town's Silo church was burnt
    down.Another building was burnt down the next day and the
    violence continued through Tuesday (December 28) with police
    reporting more clashes between rival groups.

    A nurse at Ambon's Bhakti Rahayu hospital told Reuters
    that a 28-year-old Japanese pearl company executive was shot
    in the stomach and left shoulder by a group of armed residents
    on Tuesday.The man is said to be in stable condition
    following surgery.Further details about the shooting were not
    immediately available.

    A hospital official also said at least 46 people have
    been killed and hundreds more wounded in the renewed fighting,
    some of the fiercest yet in Ambon, which has been battered by
    almost a year of religious violence.

    Residents said they expected the death toll to rise.

    The clashes followed fighting between Christians and
    Moslems last week that killed 43 people on the island of Buru,
    west of Ambon.

    The official Antara news agency reported on Tuesday at
    least 100 people had been killed in similar violence on
    Halmahera island, also part of the Spice Islands, since the
    start of the Moslem fasting month early in December.

    It said clashes were continuing in a number of areas on
    the island.

    Once held up as a model of religious harmony in mostly
    Moslem Indonesia, Ambon erupted in sectarian violence in
    January 1999.

    Earlier this month, Indonesian President Abdurrahman
    Wahid visited Ambon to plead for an end to the fighting.

    Following his visit there have been repeated clashes in the
    region.

    At least 800 people have been killed this year in
    Moluccas violence and thousands of residents have been
    evacuated.


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