Militant group threatens Indonesian peace

The Dutch sailors who arrived here 500 years ago to barter for spices have long-since abandoned Kebon Cengkih, a village named for the clove trees that still line its lush slopes.

Today, this tidy hamlet tucked into the hills above Ambon, the hub of Maluku province, is home to a new breed of invaders: Laskar Jihad, armed Muslim militants from Java. Their arrival two years ago to defend Muslims battling Christians here added fuel to a bloody interfaith conflict that has claimed more than 5,000 lives since January 1999.

A fragile peace had descended here after an accord was signed Feb. 12. But it was shattered yesterday by a bomb blast outside a Christian hotel in Ambon that killed four people and injured 43. An angry mob of Christians responded by torching the governor's office, underscoring the simmering tensions here.

No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but analysts and diplomats point to the Muslim paramilitary group Laskar Jihad, which has promised to disrupt the peace process. "Laskar Jihad's self-justification for its presence in Ambon depends on continuation of the conflict," said a recent report by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank.

The peace accord called for "outsiders that bring chaos" to leave the region, though even moderate Muslims signatories are reluctant to see Laskar Jihad go, saying they don't feel secure. "A guarantee of security for our community is very important, and Laskar Jihad is one force that can make us safe," says Nasir Rahawarin, a Muslim leader in Ambon.

The explosion comes days after Gov. Saleh Latuconsina said he would extend by one month a March 31 deadline for disarming civilians, and amid fears of resistance by Laskar Jihad, whose well-trained troops number between 500 and 800 men.

"As long as [the government doesn't] deal with the hard-liners, it's going to be very difficult to move forward," says a Western diplomat in Jakarta. "That's been the problem from Day 1."

But just as the spice-hungry Dutch proved hard to oust from these islands, Laskar Jihad is refusing to leave its stronghold in Kebon Cengkih, a virtual no-go area for security forces.

No weapons – apart from the rifle held by Osama bin Laden in lurid posters plastered on a bamboo checkpoint – were on display in Laskar Jihad's compound, a neat row of one-story houses behind a large mosque.

In contrast to the casual attire of local Muslims, the young men in the compound wore knee-length tunics and white prayer hats above Javanese faces. All visitors are required to register and surrender identity cards; a sign on a door warned that anyone who left it open must immediately do 10 push-ups.

In a subsequent interview in Jakarta, Laskar Jihad leader Jaffar Umar Thalib, a 40-year-old Afghan war veteran, denounces the peace deal as a betrayal of Muslims and insists that Laskar Jihad won't abandon its 'humanitarian' mission (it runs a clinic and school in Kebon Cengkih).

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