Security forces hit Kalimantan

Indonesian forces arrive in Kalimantan

PALANGKARAYA, Indonesia -- Fresh Indonesian security forces are fanning out across the blood-soaked Central Kalimantan province nine days after the latest ethnic terror campaign began.

As the police and military attempt to regain control, an indigenous Dayak leader has declared victory in the campaign to drive the minority Madurese from the region.

"We have won the war, We are now just waiting for the refugees to be evacuated," said Mohammed Usop, a university professor whom the Dayak fighters say is their leader.

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"The fighting is over."

So far 303 people have been slaughtered, officials said. Nearly all were migrant Madurese, many of whom were beheaded and had their hearts ripped out.

Aid workers say the death toll could reach 1,000 because uncounted bodies still lie in torched houses and fields.

Tens of thousands of Madurese have abandoned their possessions and fled. In several towns, the only Madurese remaining have taken shelter near police stations, waiting to be evacuated.

The violence was aimed at "cleansing the Madurese," Usop said.

"They have just got to go," he said. "If they ever come back they will face the same treatment."

Over the past 40 years, more than 100,000 Madurese have resettled in Kalimantan -- the Indonesian part of Borneo island. They were moved in as part of a government program designed to relieve overcrowding in other areas.

Clashes in 1997

Intercommunal relations soured when Dayaks complained of discrimination in education and job opportunities. The first major clash occurred in 1997 in West Kalimantan province, when about 3,000 people were killed.

Despite Usop's assurances that the latest wave of killings were over, Indonesia's top security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, warned that violence between the two communities might expand.

"The communal conflict could spread to more remote areas that are difficult to reach," he said after visiting the province Monday.

Security forces condemned

Fleeing Madurese have condemned Indonesia's security forces for failing to protect them from Dayak gangs.

An Associated Press reporter watched Monday as heavily armed police and soldiers stood by while Dayaks, brandishing spears and machetes, set fire to dozens of Madurese houses and manned roadblocks in the provincial capital, Palangkaraya.

"The police have done nothing for us," said Watina, who fled her home after Dayaks attacked it Monday and took shelter at a police station.

Soon after the latest violence began Feb. 18, the security forces dispatched three infantry battalions and a paramilitary police battalion to the region. A fourth battalion was being flown in.

State of emergency considered

Yudhoyono denied accusations that the outnumbered army and police units were not doing enough to stem the violence, and said order would be restored within three days. The government also was deciding whether to impose a state of emergency, which would give the military extra powers.

About 30,000 refugees waiting for government evacuation were living in a squalid refugee camp in the town of Sampit, which has suffered the worst brutality.

Dr. Qomaruddin Sukhemi said many of the Madurese were sick, hungry and desperate to leave. The first 14 tonnes of food aid and medicines were flown into the town on Monday.

Ships fail to arrive

Ships that had been expected to arrive Monday to evacuate many Madurese failed to turn up. About 11,000 people managed to flee on navy warships over the weekend.

The fighting in Central Kalimantan is the latest in a series of bloody violence engulfing the world's fourth-most populous nation.

For decades, former dictator Suharto used his security forces to crush any dissent or unrest, suppressing tensions between Indonesia's many diverse ethnic and religious groups. Since his ousting in 1998, violence has been steadily growing.

Thousands have been killed in combat between troops and separatist rebels in Aceh province. About 5,000 people have died in two years of warfare between Christians and Muslims in the Maluku archipelago. In Irian Jaya, an upsurge of separatist violence has claimed dozens of lives since December.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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