Jakarta – A group of 3,000 militant Muslims preparing for a holy war against Christians in the strife-torn Maluku islands has agreed to leave a training camp near the Indonesian capital by Sunday and surrender their weapons, police and a group leader said Friday.
"The Laskar Jihad (Jihad Force) has agreed to leave the location on April 16 at the latest and to surrender their weapons," Marwan, an officer at the Bogor regional police, told AFP.
Marwan said the agreement to vacate the Kayumanis "Cinnamon Tree" camp in the hills near Bogor some 50 kilometers south of Jakarta was reached at a meeting on Thursday between group leader Jaffar Umar Thalib and Bogor police chief Colonel Edi Darnadi at the latter's office. He declined to give further details of the agreement.
Hilal Thalib, the chairman of Al Irsad Foundation, whose land was used for military-style training by the jihad group, the Ahlusunnah wal Jama'ah Forum, said the volunteers were preparing to leave the area. "We are preparing everything. In fact the training participants are not Bogor residents," Hilal told AFP.
The training camp, which the group says drew volunteers from all Indonesian provinces – except easternmost Irian Jaya which is predominantly Christian – had been scheduled to end on April 16, Hilal said. "That's the schedule. As soon as it ends, they will go to their respective hometowns," he said.
But he warned that the group would remain active, was preparing "a surprise" and would continue to fight against "communism and Zionism". "We call on Muslims to continue to fight against communists and Zionists with their material and physical strength," he said. "The two powers are plotting to undermine Islam and the ban on our activity is part of that plot," he added.
"Why don't the authorities act against Forkot who often use Molotov coctails in their demonstrations?" he said of a radical student group which has staged demonstrations demanding that former president Suharto be tried for corruption.
Police on Thursday ordered the closure the jihad group's camp and threatened to use force if they failed to do so. Police said residents around Kayumanis were living in fear as members of the jihad force were going around armed with sharp weapons, the waters of a local river had become polluted with the presence of thousands of men at the camp, and the forces were barricading a village road.
Local press reports said 3,150 people were training in a seven- hectare field in a valley in the hill area. The group announced on April 6 that the force planned to send up to 10,000 Muslim volunteers to the Malukus to break what they called a "Christian rebellion" in the islands.
Thalib, during two armed shows of force in Jakarta – one at the presidential palace and the other at parliament – also threatened to divert the fight against Christians to Java island if the government thwarted his plans.
The sectarian violence originated in Ambon, the capital of the Malukus, in January 1999, and was sparked by a trivial dispute between a local Christian driver and a Muslim.
The brawl quickly degenerated into open clashes between Christians and Muslims and within weeks had spread to other islands, leaving thousands from both religions dead, and forcing tens of thousands of others to flee.