Counter-Terrorism: Christian Tribes Under Attack

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June 21, 2008:  The Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua (both in the western half of New Guinea island) is turning into another battleground between Moslems and Christians. The region used to be a Dutch colony, and many of the Melanesian tribal people there were converted to Christianity. Islam was relatively unknown. No longer. Because of heavy migration from other parts of Indonesia over the last two decades, about a quarter of the three million strong population is now Moslem. Islamic radicals have shown up as well. Between angry Christians (who oppose the migrants, and their religion) and Islamic radicals (who hate non-Moslems), there have been a growing number of clashes. Most of the police are Malay (the dominant ethnic group in most of Indonesia),  and they tend to side with the Moslems. It's getting uglier by the month.

 

 

 

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