Breakdown:

Four Years Of Communal Violence In Central Sulawesi

The violence plaguing Central Sulawesi today is a direct result of the Indonesian government's failure to punish the perpetrators of major attacks and protect communities in the province since 1998, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. An estimated 1,000 people have died and more than 100,000 have been displaced since violence between Christians and Muslims broke out in the Poso region of Central Sulawesi in December 1998. Following a fight between youths four years ago, Muslim and Christian groups mounted attacks on each other's neighborhoods and villages in repeated cycles of violence. Security forces failed to stop the attacks, and when they did act, they sometimes worsened conditions by firing into crowds and committing human rights violations.Many of the worst crimes went unpunished, and several subsequent outbreaks were tied to the lack of arrests for prior violence. The few trials that did take place produced inconsistent sentences and took place in a circus-like atmosphere that inflamed tensions further, Human Rights Watch said.An effective and unbiased deployment of police or military, with a justice system that could hold perpetrators accountable, could have ended the problem when it began in 1998, Human Rights Watch said.