Historically, in addition to the native Muslim population, there are many migrants of Bugis people from South Sulawesi, as well as from the northern Gorontalo region.

There is also a long tradition of Arab traders living in the region, and their descendants play an important role in religious institutions and Islamic education in the area.

The Muslim community here consists of indigenous people, official transmigrants, and economic migrants of various ethnic groups which have settled in this area for decades.

Although the initial conflict centered on tensions between Muslim Bugis migrants and Protestant Pamona people, many other groups were drawn through their ethnic, cultural, or economic ties.

In January 2002, after the Malino I Declaration was signed, official figures for coordination with the humanitarian responses to the conflict estimated a total of 86,000 internal refugees emerged in Central Sulawesi.

The Poso Regency Police and Political Affairs Office reported that in mid-July 2002, 43,308 people had returned home, some 40 percent of the estimated total 110,227 refugees.

Some people told Human Rights Watch that they had seen their homes destroyed more than once, and the barracks built by the local government and Indonesian army in 2000 were often targeted by these attacks.

A local NGO reported in August 2002 that the basic needs of refugees were not met, creating problems such as the lack of nutrition for children, widespread diarrhea, skin disease and tetanus from shot wounds.