CENTRAL SULAWESI, Indonesia — The villages of Sepe and Silanca, some 10 miles from the city of Poso, have been burned to the ground. Reports from several sources confirm that attacks on the Christian villages started on the evening of Aug. 12 after units of the armed forces which had been guarding the villages were unexpectedly withdrawn.
Sepe, with a population of 1,250, was attacked at 6:30 p.m. by a large group of men dressed in black and firing automatic weapons. Some of the villagers tried to fend off the attackers with farming implements and bamboo spears but soon joined the rest of the villagers in flight.
They had no time to watch their newly rebuilt Sepe Pentecostal Church being burned down. Vence Waani, pastor of the church, and his wife and child were forced to flee the burning village with the attackers firing volleys of bullets behind them.
By 8:30 p.m., the village of Sepe was gutted. The Sepe Pentecostal Church and the Eklesia Protestant Church were destroyed. The attackers moved on to Silanca where they followed the same pattern. They chased away the villagers, looted their houses and then set them alight.
All the Christians from the two villages — some 2,500 — sought refuge in Pandiri and Watuawu, further south of Poso on the road to Tentena. Their number is now being swelled by villagers from neighboring Tambaro and Maliwuko who no longer feel protected by the armed forces. One report states that four trucks carrying a small army unit drove to Silanca and Sepe once the attacks were over and the attackers had gone.
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