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Bloodshed continues in Borneo
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The death toll from more than a week of savage ethnic violence in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan has risen to 469, the province's governor said yesterday in a report to the Indonesian Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri who visited bloodied Borneo to inspect efforts to end ethnic savagery and evacuate thousands of refugees.
Her visit comes amid growing pressure for President Abdurrahman Wahid, already facing possible impeachment, to cut short a controversial two-week foreign tour and return home.
Megawati, due to leave on Thursday morning, was to decide whether to declare a civil emergency in the province of Central Kalimantan after her brief visit to its capital, Palangkaraya, and the river port town of Sampit, 750 km northeast of Jakarta and scene of some of the worst slaughter.
But national police chief General Bimantoro said on Wednesday the crisis had eased and there was no need for a civil emergency.
Hundreds of people have been butchered and more than 45,000 forced from their homes after indigenous Dayaks went on a killing spree to drive out settlers from the island of Madura, off East Java.
After days of inaction, police were ordered to shoot troublemakers on sight. Five were shot on Tuesday, one fatally.
The Borneo carnage has given Wahid's enemies fresh ammunition to attack a leader already facing possible impeachment after being censured by parliament over two financial scandals.
(SD-Agencies)
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