Story number 1 for 30 Apr 2002

(Indonesia)–We begin today in Indonesia where violence has hit Christians in the village of Soya, on the outskirts of Maluku’s provincial capital, Ambon. According to reports the Laskar Jihad was behind Sunday’s attack that killed 12 Christians. While some believe the violence will undermine the peace pact signed in February, New Tribes Mission’s Guy Sier doesn’t agree. “The peace agreement in Ambon really never really had any teeth to it because the forces in play that created the devastation it still at play. Radical Islam is still perpetuating violence and a jihad.” While Sier says all of their foreign workers have been pulled out the region, their national staff is still at risk. “In the jihad mentality, they would be more quickly murdered than a white westerner. But, we have allowed some nationals to go back into the tribal areas because they’re less noticeable.”