************************** Laporkan Situasi lingkungan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Atau Hub Eskol Hot Line Telp: 031-5479083/84 ************************** AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Friday, July 7 12:56 PM SGT Maluku bishops head for Geneva to appeal to United Nations JAKARTA, July 7 (AFP) - Three church leaders from Indonesia's violence-torn Maluku islands are to travel to Geneva in a bid to seek the intervention of the UN Human Rights Commission to end the Muslim-Christian bloodshed there, the church said Friday. The three were to leave immediately, a statement issued by a Christian crisis center said. The delegation is being led by the Bishop of Ambon, Monseigneur Mandagi. Ambonese Christians have appealed to the United Nations before in writing, but the trip to Geneva is the first of its kind since the Muslim-Christian fighting erupted in Ambon city in January of 1999. The violence has since spread throughout the island chain, leaving some 4,000 people dead. More than half a million refugees have fled the trouble spots. The Indonesian government, which has rejected suggestions of foreign intervention, declared a civil emergency in Maluku and North Maluku provinces on June 28. But the crisis center report said that since the emergency was declared, violence had escalated in the capital city of Ambon with, on least one occasion, armed troops taking sides with the Muslims. "Ten thousands of Christians from Ambon town to Passo (a nearby township) are desperately waiting to be evacuated from the island," it said. Maluku governor Saleh Latuconsina, it added, had tried to visit the area of Poko, burned down by Muslim fighters backed by Indonesian troops, to assess the damage, "but apparently his safety could not be guaranteed." Pressure has been mounting on Jakarta over the Maluku violence as an increasing number of reports speak of military personnel taking sides in the fighting, which has worsened since the arrival of thousands of fanatic Muslim fighers from Java island. In Strasbourg on Thursday the European Parliament added its voice to the calls for international intervention. > In a resolution the assembly called on the 15 countries of the European Union and the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, to examine how the international community can help restore peace in the islands, "for example by sending international observors." Euro MPs also issued an urgent appeal for increased EU aid to the region and called on the Indonesian authorities to open humanitarian corridors to allow assistance to get through to people displaced by the fighting. Copyright � 2000 AFP. All rights reserved. "Sebab segala sesuatu adalah dari Dia, dan oleh Dia, dan kepada Dia: Bagi Dialah kemuliaan sampai selama-lamanya!" (Roma 11:36) *********************************************************************** Moderator EskolNet berhak menyeleksi tulisan/artikel yang masuk. Untuk informasi lebih lanjut, pertanyaan, saran, kritik dan sumbangan tulisan harap menghubungi [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bank Danamon Cab. Ambengan Plaza Surabaya, a.n. Martin Setiabudi Acc.No. 761.000.000.772 atau BCA Cab. Darmo Surabaya, a.n. Martin Setiabudi Acc. No. 088.442.8838 *********************************************************************** Kirimkan E-mail ke [EMAIL PROTECTED] dengan pesan: subscribe eskolnet-l ATAU unsubscribe eskolnet-l
