Moluccas quiet but tense

The atmosphere in the Moluccas was 'quiet but very tense', local media reported yesterday (Tuesday 11 July). The threatened large-scale Moslem attack on the Christian community has not happened, though sporadic gunfire could be heard throughout the city. Fr Kees Bohm from Ambon diocese said he was concerned that the Jihad fighters may have only delayed their attack because local press and television had given such extensive coverage to the warnings and rumours over the weekend. He said the arrival of army reinforcements may also have deterred the Jihad fighters. But, he said, people were still very afraid. Elsewhere in the Moluccan Islands, churches reported that Jihad fighters had arrived in the city of Tual, on Kei-Kecil island in the South west, and on Kei-Besar at the village of Banda-Eli. Both islands have populations which are about two-thirds Christian.