BORNEO ETHNIC VIOLENCE 3 EVACUATION

>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=hNr-Dbpr9QQ

(24 Feb 2001) Natural Sound • • In an atmosphere of panic and chaos, thousands of people fleeing the ethnic slaughter on Borneo Island struggled Saturday onto overcrowded trucks heading for a port where naval ships were standing by to evacuate them. • • As the refugees clambered aboard a large navy transport, two dead bodies floated downriver past the crowded pier, a grim reminder of the violence that has claimed at least 210 lives during the past week. • • An estimated 15,000 people remained huddled in government buildings and police stations in the town of Sampit, about 800 kilometers (480 miles) northeast of Jakarta. • • Government officials said the refugees would be shipped to Indonesia's main island of Java. • • There were reports of armed mobs of indigenous Dayak men roaming the otherwise deserted streets of Sampit, looting and torching homes belonging to immigrants, mostly from Madura island. • • There were no reports of fresh fighting, as Indonesian troops stood guard at roadblocks throughout the town. • • The crisis is seen as another blow to the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid, which has struggled • unsuccessfully to contain Indonesia's growing separatist and ethnic conflicts. • • Critics have denounced Wahid, who is on a 15-day tour to the Middle East and Africa, and accused him of ignoring the bloodshed. • • People fleeing Sampit overland were stopped at roadblocks manned by armed Dayaks threatening to kill any Madurese who tried to pass. • • At least five people, including a child, have died in makeshift refugee camps. • • Three more ships are expected to arrive in the next 24 hours to ferry away refugees, and military aircraft are flying in troops to control the fighting. • • Sampit Mayor Mohamed Wahyudi said 210 people had been confirmed dead since fighting first broke out last Sunday. • • Unconfirmed reports in Indonesian media, however, said that up to 400 may have died. • • As the heavily laden trucks brought frightened people to the port area from government buildings and police posts • where they had sought refuge, dozens of Dayak natives armed with spears and machetes stood by and watched impassively. • • Over the past 40 years, tens of thousands of people, mostly Madurese, have resettled to Borneo in central • Kalimantan province. • • The government transmigration program that brought them there was designed to relieve overcrowding in other areas, but it has sparked resentment among the indigenous Dayak. • • This week's killings are the latest in a series of bloody outbreaks of violence. • • In the past several years, hundreds have died in clashes in the area, most sparked by land disputes between Dayaks and Madurese. • • SOUNDBITE: (local dialect) • I feel disappointed to be leaving the town, because I've spent most of my life here, working here and I have family here. • SUPER CAPTION: Famino, refugee • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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