Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – As whole villages are destroyed by renewed religious violence in Central Sulawesi, its local leaders blame Indonesian security forces and a team of government negotiators for failing to rein in the rampaging militias.

Mr Yus Mengun, a parliamentarian from Poso, said the government's reconciliation team had ignored negotiations between the Christian and Muslim militants, and instead implemented a heavy-handed approach in disarming both sides. The reconciliation team aborted the peace process when police bungled a hastily organised disarming operation. Police clashed with armed villagers who were angered by the arrest of their fighters.

Another Muslim community leader, Mr Iskandar, from a local peace forum, said the reconciliation team failed because it lacked backing from the security forces and other government groups. "They announced the programme to collect the guns but the atmosphere was not conducive for it, people were still opposed to it and there were not enough troops to do it," said Mr Iskandar.

The chairman of the government-backed reconciliation team, Mr Gumyiardi, admitted that he had abandoned reconciliation efforts in the middle of October, but blamed the security forces for their failure to disarm the two sides. Mr Yus said that both Christians and Muslims wanted peace but the security forces appeared unwilling or unable to halt the violence. As a result, no one trusted the police and military.

Another Muslim leader blamed biased actions from police and military for the escalation of the conflict. Mr Idrus Al Habsyi, an ulema in the provincial capital of Palu, accused the security forces of abducting six Muslims in apparent retaliation for clashes between troops and Muslim fighters in which four riot police were injured. On Monday, at least 200 Muslims protested in Poso saying the armed forces had abducted the six.

Chief Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Indonesia's police chief Brigadier-General Dadang Garnida are to visit the Poso area to assess whether to declare a civil emergency there. Government officials said they will be in the area today. Mr Susilo on Monday vowed to send extra troops to end the clashes and to search for weapons.

Church spokesmen in Palu and Poso say thousands of villagers in the predominantly Christian town of Tentena are under threat of imminent attack. But a spokesman from the Christian Crisis Centre said Tentena was relatively calm. Police in Palu said several hundred reinforcements had been sent to Tentena to protect the community.