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Buwalda says the numbers of Christian casualties—approximately 90 percent of all deaths in the ongoing violence—is evidence that Central Sulawesi Christians have not taken up arms against the Muslim aggressors. "They would not have suffered the number of dead in the conflict, in the massacres, had they actually been able to defend themselves," she said.

Christians continue fleeing to neighboring villages, notably Tentena, an almost entirely Christian community where in May, Muslim militants bombed the village market, killing 22 Christians.

In March 2003, Buwalda met with Indonesia's vice president Jusuf Kalla, who told Buwalda in regard to destruction of Christian villages that "the Christians should just get over it and move on. … We can't let them sit around as refugees."

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More on the history of attacks against Indonesian Christians is available in our Indonesia area. Among the articles are two describing what you can do to help.

Google News has links to the latest news about the beheadings.

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November (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49