Stop the war in the Moluccas (Moluku Islands)

To:  Mrs Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and H.E. Kofi Annan, Secretary General, United Nations

DEPLORABLE WAR SITUATION IN THE MOLUCCAS (MOLUKU ISLANDS)
Request for assistance from Republic of South Moluccas - FRONT SIWA-LIMA (FSL)

23,000 Indonesian soldiers, backed by 30,000 'Laskar Jihad' mercenaries and some hundreds of Taliban mercenaries, are waging a full-scale war against the innocent Moluccan people, both Christian and Moslem. Moluccans report that :

--40,000 of their people have been killed in the past 20 months, and thousands more injured.

--Villages, hospitals, universities and churches have been razed to the ground, and villagers have fled into the mountains, jungle or sea.

--Both the Christian and state universities were destroyed in June 2000 and whole Christian suburbs of Ambon City have been erased from the landscape.

--In the last week of November 2000 four villages in Gorong were attacked, with some 54 killed and hundreds wounded, and more than 700 have fled.

--The Radja of the Moslem village Tulehu was killed because he refused to collaborate with the mercenaries.

--The Indonesian military and mercenaries are attacking all speed boats and fishing boats in the Moluccan waters, so far killing some dozen Christians and Moslems.

--Attacks on the cities of Kairatu, Wahai and Gore continue.

--300 Christians were forced by the mercenaries and the military to convert to Islam.

--On the island of Saparua the inhabitants of the Moslem village of SiriSori have left their village. Now the mercenaries and Indonesian soldiers have settled there and are using it as a base to attack other places in Saparua.

--It is said that the Lascar Jihad will begin "Operation H" in December, promising that there will never again be a Moluccan Christmas, and that Indonesia's President Wahid has announced that more warships will be sent to Moluku.

--On 29th November the people of Wayame (Hative Besar) in Ambon left their village en masse, because of the impending attack on their village expected to begin on 30th November.

--Moslem families report that every family is forced to take at least two mercenaries into their homes and to provide for them. Many girls and women are raped and are committing suicide in large numbers. The men must go and fight for the mercenaries, or all their family will be killed. This has recently happened in the Moslem villages of Batumerah, Sirisori Islam and Waehong.

--The men are put in the front line of the fighting, and this is used to tell the world that it is a religious fight between Moslems and Christians. It is not. Moslems and Christians are both fighting against Indonesian domination, and both are equally targeted by the Indonesians and their mercenaries.

--In late September six Moluccan activists in Djakarta went to the Swiss Embassy there and requested that they be given political asylum by Switzerland. While they await a reply they are in hiding, fearing for their lives.

--To date no reply is forthcoming, and they request that people send urgent appeals to
H.E. Mr W. Weidmer, Counsellor of the Swiss Embassy in Djakarta at fax no. 61 21 520 2289 ;
and to H.E. Mr Joseph Deiss, Swiss Foreign Minister at fax no. 41 31 32 23 237
asking that the six Moluccans be urgently granted political asylum by Switzerland.

Petition to
-- Mrs Mary Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights;
-- H.E. Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations:

We, the undersigned, call upon the United Nations, in cooperation with the Indonesian Government, to provide for:
1. an on-site fact-finding mission to the Moluccas;
2. a Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions be sent to the Moluccas;
3. prosecution and indictment to the fullest extent of international law of those responsible for the human rights violations as described above, not only of the political leaders, but also of the military leaders;
4. immediate withdrawal of the Indonesian Army and its mercenaries from the Moluccas; and
5. immediate humanitarian aid, including food and medicines from international organisations.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Stop the war in the Moluccas (Moluku Islands) Petition to Mrs Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and H.E. Kofi Annan, Secretary General, United Nations was created by Australian Peace Committee (South Australian Branch) Inc./a> and written by Ron Gray.  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no express or implied endorsement of this petition by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. The petition scripts are created by Mike Wheeler at Artifice, Inc.  For Technical Support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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