As fresh violence erupts in Indonesia's North Maluku, an Australian-based mining firm trapped in a no-man's land has its own battle to fight. Lindsay Murdoch reports.
Islamic extremists have obtained a large cache of high-powered weapons they plan to use in a jihad, or holy war, on an isolated island in eastern Indonesia.
The weapons, seen this week being handed to self-declared holy warriors who have arrived in Ambon, the capital of the Malukus, formerly known as the Spice Islands, will dramatically escalate violence between Christians and Muslims.
Clashes have already left up to 6,000 people dead in two separate but religiously linked conflicts in nine months across the 2,000-island chain.
Halmahera island is also home to Australian-based company Newcrest Mining Ltd, which is determined not to abandon its $A200 million gold mine in the face of ongoing violence.
A cameraman working for an international news agency saw the weapons being handed to Muslim extremists on Tuesday from a ship container that had arrived in Ambon on the cargo boat Tanto Permai II.
Since then fresh religious fighting has erupted in Ambon, leaving at least 27 dead, scores wounded and dozens of buildings burnt down. Ambon is a staging post for up to 10,000 jihad fighters who have arrived or are heading for the islands, many of whom have vowed to retake Christian-controlled areas on the northern peninsula of Halmahera island, about 500 kilometres north of Ambon in Indonesia's North Maluku province.
It's an area that has already seen some of the worst atrocities, including the incineration of about 200 people when a bomb exploded in a mosque.
Church leaders in Australia with contacts in the islands have warned that 150,000 Christians on Halmahera are in danger of being wiped out as the Government in Jakarta appears powerless to keep the jihad fighters from leaving Java.
Community leaders from both sides have told the Herald that previously published estimates of the death toll and destruction in North Maluku have been greatly under-reported.
Until now fighters from both sides of the North Maluku war have used mostly traditional and home-made weapons and bombs in the fighting, which has caused Newcrest to evacuate most of its staff and suspend mining of one of the world's richest gold bodies three times.
But Newcrest's general manager (East Australia operations), Mr Bruce Price, told the Herald at the mine on Halmahera that the company was under strong pressure from the Indonesian Government to keep operating despite the mine being in a no-man's land between warring groups.
The company has already had a regional office on the island of Ternate trashed, one of its chartered helicopters hijacked and has had to dismiss hundreds of locally-employed workers for fear of trouble moving on to the mine site, where about 30 expatriates are working, most of them Australians.
"In [Jakarta's] view there would be a significant downside if we were to leave," Mr Price said. "We would not precipitously abandon the site ... it's our view that things are never quite as bad as you think. You proceed with constraint and caution.
"Local authorities have sent us a strong message: you are not responsible [for the conflict] ... you should get on with it. You are not under threat."
A 30-strong group of Indonesian combat troops are guarding the mine and the company has a barge and helicopters available to evacuate staff at short notice.
Early this year, Muslim leaders accused Newcrest, which is mining the gold through its majority-owned subsidiary, P. T. Nusa Halmahera Minerals, of siding with Christians. But the company has given emergency aid and built schools, kindergartens and other community projects for use by both sides.
Almost all the projects have since been destroyed. Villages near the mine have been abandoned and also destroyed since the worst of the violence in December and January.
Hundreds of Indonesian combat troops on Halmahera have orders to shoot jihad fighters who are trying to reach areas of the mountainous island where Christian vigilantes are dug into defensive positions.
At least eight Muslim fighters have been killed and several dozen more hurt in the past two weeks as troops have repelled groups trying to reach Halmahera's northern peninsula from Muslim- controlled Ternate, where the jihad forces have established a base.
Ambon's military commander, Brigadier-General Max Tamaela, this week travelled to Jakarta to complain about the inability of Indonesian authorities to keep the Jihad fighters from leaving Java. General Tamaela confirmed that nine containers on the boat Tanto Permai II were believed to be holding weapons.