|
|
|
Map of Southeast Asia |
Email this citationCIAO DATE: 08/04
Indonesia Backgrounder: Jihad in Central Sulawesi
February 3, 2004
Abstract
Recent violence in Poso (Central Sulawesi) suggests a need to revise assessments about the nature and gravity of the terrorist threat in Indonesia. While the shorter term prospects are somewhat encouraging, there is an under appreciated longer term security risk.
In October 2003, masked gunmen attacked Christian villagers in the Morowali and Poso districts of Central Sulawesi, killing thirteen. The attacks took many outside the area by surprise. In December 2001, after three years of bitter sectarian conflict in which hundreds of Muslims and Christians had been killed, leaders of the warring parties had signed a peace agreement, the Malino Accord, which produced a dramatic decline in communal clashes. However, systematic, one-sided violence - bombings and "mysterious killings" by unidentified assailants, with overwhelmingly non-Muslim victims - continued. The October 2003 attacks thus continued a well-established pattern.
