Tag: Indonesian National Armed Forces

Shootings, village burnings and helicopter attacks continue across Paniai

 

SPECIAL REPORT AND UPDATE

by Nick Chesterfield at westpapuamedia.info

December 16, 2011

Harrowing accounts of terror and intimidation are emerging from villagers and human rights workers in the remote Paniai district in West Papua overnight, as a massive Indonesian military assault against National Liberation Army guerrillas continues.

Local human rights and church sources are reporting that ordinary villagers are being subjected to significant human rights abuses by a combined Indonesian police and military force, and have called for immediate international intervention in West Papua to stop the violence.

Over four full strength combat battalions of Indonesian army (TNI) Kostrad commandos from Battalion 753, Brimob paramilitary police, and elite counter-terrorism troops from Detachment 88 – all units armed, trained, and supplied by the Australian Government – were deployed in an offensive to surround the headquarters of the Paniai Free Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-OPM), under the command of General Jhon Yogi.

TPN/OPM headquarters Markas Eduda burning after TNI attack, 13/12/2011, Paniai, Papua
Paniai villages burning after TNI attack, 13/12/2011, Paniai, Papua
TPN/OPM headquarters Markas Eduda burning after TNI attack, 13/12/2011, Paniai, Papua

Punitive village burnings and raids are continuing in remote villages around the TPN/OPM headquarters of Markas Eduda.  At the time of writing, seventy-five houses, six schools, and about 25 other buildings have been recorded as burnt down in a total of 27 villages by Indonesian security forces.

Eighteen people are now confirmed dead – fifteen from gunshot wounds, and three refugees who allegedly succumbed to starvation in the so-called care centres under the control of security forces.  The victims’ names from the attack in Eduda are:

Dead:

  1. Tapupai Gobay (30) was shot in the chest.
  2. Tawe Bunai Awe (30) head crushed*.
  3. Uwi Gobay (35) was shot in the abdomen.
  4. Wate Nawipa (25) was shot in the back.
  5. Martinus Gobay (29) head crushed*.
  6. Owdei Yeimo (35) was shot in the back.
  7. Ruben Gobay (25) was shot in the abdomen.
  8. Paul Gobay (42) was shot in the abdomen.
  9. Bernadus Yogi (23) was shot in the chest.
  10. Demianus Yogi (15) was shot in the back.
  11. Simon Kogoya (40) was shot in the abdomen.
  12. Simon Yogi (30) was shot in the head.
  13. Luke Kudiai (25) was shot in the chest.
  14. Alfius Magai (20) head crushed*

Note:  those with “head crushed” allegedly sustained these fatal injuries through severe beatings with rifle butts and “boot stamping”, according to sources

Wounded:

  1. Paschal Kudiai (15) hit by a bullet in the head.
  2. Martinus Kudiai (30) was shot in the hand.
  3. David Mote (40) was shot in the thigh.
  4. Amandus Kudiai (43) was shot in the arm.
  5. Yohan Yogi (21) was shot in the leg.
  6. Mon Yogi (20) was shot in the back.

Credible reports have also confirmed that two civilian “company” helicopters were provided to Security forces, and were allegedly used to drop live grenades and chemical dispersal weapons onto villages surrounding Eduda, and strafe villages with sniper and machine-gun fire on December 13, 14, and 15.  Several independent witnesses have claimed to West Papua Media, and reported elsewhere across social media, that the helicopters are well known in the area for local non-military operations.

"Company" Helicopter alleged by local sources to be used in Indonesia security force offensive in Paniai. Source claims photo taken on Dec 13 aas helicopter was circling group. This photo is not independently verified, however analysis shows the image is consistent with independent witness descriptions, and the terrain and weather conditions are consistent with other photos supplied. (West Papua Media source)

Witnesses interviewed by local human rights workers have claimed that at 0800 local time on December 13, the Company helicopter launched CS gas salvos into the village of Markas Eduda, the TPN headquarters, to flush out villagers and guerrillas.  According to a separate account sent to West Papua Media by TPN/OPM sources, the helicopters landed troops and occupied Eduda for most of the day, with guerrillas taking to forests in retreat.  In retaliation, TPN/OPM fighters shot at the helicopters, unsuccessfully, and several hours of intense fighting ensued which was suspended when Free Papua fighters witnessed many village houses and schools being simultaneously burnt in the surrounding area.  According to the TPN/OPM source, villages were set on fire around Eduda and gunshots were heard for the rest of the day and through the night.  Free Papua fighters have retreated to the forest and are awaiting orders for their next moves, according to the source.

Villagers from across Paniai are continuing to be displaced by the operations, forced to flee en masse into areas around Enaratoli, on the opposite side of Lake Paniai.  As reported on December 14 by West Papua Media, over 131 villages have been abandoned causing at least 10800 Paniai villagers to flee the military operations.

Church sources have further reported that refugees seeking shelter in the Enaratoli area are enduring worsening conditions without any relief.  Armed Indonesian security forces have established a police supervised secure “Care Centre” at Uwatawogi Hall in Enaratoli, and have crammed into it 1715 people from Kopabutu and Dagouto villages.  According to local activists in reports to West Papua Media, local residents are being threatened with arrest and beatings if they try to provide detainees with adequate humanitarian relief.  Police are also preventing people held at the hall from leaving for food or sanitation needs, according to sources.  At the time of writing, three people have died at the “care Centre” since December 9 from Diarrhoea.  They are :

  • OTOLINCEA DEGEI age 2 years , died 8:20pm, 9/12/11;
  • YULIMINA GOBAI Age 4, died 3pm, 14/12/2011;
  • ANNA DEGEI Age 47, died 1030pm, 14/12/2011.

No food, sanitation or medical aid has been made available by any government agency to give relief to this large number of internally displaced people.

Over 9000 refugees are either hiding in the forest or seeking shelter with their own extended families in the region area.  Those with their families are considered safe, however their needs and conditions are difficult to monitor and assess given their isolation

Local teachers have also been in contact with West Papua Media’s stringers.   Since 27 November 2011, teaching and learning activities have been suspended indefinitely in all village schools surrounding Markas Eduda.  Schools such as SD YPPK in Badao Dei, Yimouto, and Obayauweta villages have been suspended, as has Primary, Junior High, “shop” (trade school) and Elementary Instruction in the towns of Dagouto, and Uwani.  The students of these schools have been evacuated with their parents.

A teacher in junior YPPGI Uwani said while repression was occurring in the villages that: “For while we have closed the schools, because school children are frightened and fled with their parents. In addition, we as teachers do not feel safe to make teaching and learning activities. All the teachers have fled Paniai district, and to Nabire. “

On December 15, the army / police battalions have returned to the villages of Uwamani, Dei and Obaipugaida to prepare a major attack for a new phase of the campaign.  It is believed strongly by local activists that the “company” helicopter will still be used in addition to   Unconfirmed reports have been received by West Papua Mediathat the Indonesian arsenal against civilians in Paniai includes one Mil Mi-24 SuperHind gunship, one of two usually stationed near Jayapura.

650 Kostrad troops from Battalion 142 being deployed from Palembang to Paniai in Papua, boarding their troop ship on December 9, 2011

West Papua National Committee (KNPB) activists in Paniai reported on December 15 that after the assaults on villages, the Indonesian military forces are now arresting, intimidating and carrying out interrogation on all  residents across the districts of Toko, Kopabaida and Uwamani.   According the KNPB, Indonesian police have arrested scores of  children and adults, and are conducting brutal and physical interrogations and questioning from 11.00 am until the end of the day

The offensive was ongoing throughout December 15, with Indonesian security forces opening fire in many locations around Eduda.  Overnight, from 0200 to 0600, heavy gunfire erupted across the Degeuwo River valley.  Human rights sources in villages and also with refugees conveyed reports that people were being shot at by snipers if they were moving anywhere after dark, even to collect, food, water, or to secure pigs.  It is not known how many people were killed during the night, but local source are expecting the toll to rise.

According to a report provided tonight by a local pilot, Indonesian security forces shot eleven times into houses in the village of Gekoo, where mourners were gathering for a the funeral of a local man who died from illness.  Villagers alleged that some bullets even landed in their cooking fires, exploding their food pots.

Witnesses reported a series of helicopter raids from 11am on December 15, with helicopters being used to machine-gun the villages of Obaiyepa and Uwaman.  Human rights workers have been unable to access these areas to see if any casualties were sustained.

Unidentified village burnt down 13, dec 2011, near Eduda, Paniai

Helicopters landed at Eduda ceremony ground 11 times from 11:00 to 13:00 hours,  and residents suspect logistics, ammunition and additional forces were being deployed.

The area around Paniai has been long subject to conflict and heavy Indonesian  military offensives against civilians, however in recent months the Indonesian police have taken charge of punitive operations against West Papuans harbouring pro-independence sympathies.   The conflict has recently escalated over land rights and the control of local gold mining operations, with Brimob deeply involved in both joint venture security, and direct involvement in gold businesses and associated activities. The Australian gold mining company Paniai Gold is also operating in the Degeuwo River region.

Indonesian soldiers in Paniai, December 2011

Civilians in the foothills are in panic and reliving the trauma of past operations, according to the report from a local pilot.  “They are concerned emotions again will open in Wegeuto  of the 1982 war Memoria Passionis (memory of suffering) and again when the Army conducted ongoing military operations (DOM – Daerah Operasi Militer) from  1989-1993 across the Badauwo area, near Eduda, ” the source said via email.  He explained that during the last DOM period the army accused and stigmatised civilians as being  members of the TPN-OPM, and subsequently tortured thousands of villagers.  Human rights sources at the time documented villagers being waterboarded / tortured for 24 hours;  residents’ houses burned, raped girls and married women, extrajudicial killings, burning off fingers, moustaches and beards,  pulling fingernails and quartering villagers with armoured vehicles.  Troops also conducted burning and destroying food gardens, killing livestock and pets, and fouling water supplies.

Residents are concerned that the current angry and emotional behaviour by the TNI-police toward TPN / OPM will be vented on civilians living on the slope of the hamlet Wegeuto especially, directly adjacent to Markas Eduda.  In a message delivered to West Papua Media local villagers have pleaded for International Advocacy to get Military and Police immediately withdrawn from Eduda and Paniai in general.

Much trauma is being felt by civilians across Paniai as a result of the offensive.  Independent journalist Sonny Dogopia, from  Papuan Voices ,  interviewed local villagers by telephone on December 14.   Magda Tekege, a housewife from Deiyai District, said civil society is very scared and depressed. ” Here also TNI / Police beat us and put us under surveillance, and are one full alert status, ” she explained.   Deiyai Magda called the situation unusual , “this is probably due to invasion by TNI / police in Paniai, therefore Deiyai also suffer the effects.”

Reports from Tuesday described the exercises that the Australian trained, funded and armed Brimob Gegana unit, upon arriving in Enaratoli proceeded to take over the streets immediately, causing normal town life to be immediately disrupted as local people emptied the streets to hide.

On December 6, Human rights, church sources and local activists had independently claimed that 542 people have been forcibly evacuated by troops from the Special Gegana Brimob “Counter” terrorist police unit.  The villages of Dagouto and Kopabatu and surrounding hamlets in the Dagoutu Paniai district were evicted after the Gegana unit decided it wanted to expand a new headquarters facility to deploy in the offensive against Jhon Yogi, the local leader of the armed guerrilla unit of the National Liberation Army (TPN-OPM).

The Gegana unit, a specialised elite anti-terrorist unit of the Indonesian police has been deployed heavily across Papua to crackdown on pro-independence activists engaged in non-violent resistance, as well as to eliminate the armed struggle groups.  Gegana is one of several elite Indonesian police units that receives arms, funding, and training from the Australian Government, and was blamed on December 3 for burning down a church and school in Wandenggobak, in the highland regency of Puncak Jaya.

As this article was going to press, an update was received from a trusted human rights worker in Paniai.  “At 2300 in the evening, Brimob Coconut Battalion 2 burned down buildings of Paniai Districts’ tourism assets, located in Bukit Dupia, in the same location as the Regent’s residence.  This evening in Paniai the situation is very tense”.  TPN fighters reportedly have returned fire on the attack and heavy fighting is still occurring,

The situation is ongoing and developing and West Papua Media will continue to closely monitor events.

Please urgently help us continue this work.  @westpapuamedia ia working tirelessly to end impunity in Papua with effective journalism. But we need your help  – PLEASE DONATE NOW wp.me/P1aPlR-116

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West Papuan Conflict Begs Political Solution

(note: West Papua Media assisted with this piece)

Originally published by InterPress Service at http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106215
Analysis by Catherine Wilson

SYDNEY, Dec 14, 2011 (IPS) – The Indonesian government’s offer of development for West Papua, following the crackdown by security forces on a pro-independence meeting in Jayapura in October, is unlikely to succeed in the absence of political dialogue and calls for self-determination are expected to continue. 

For half a century, the indigenous population of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua in western New Guinea, who are ethnically and culturally related to Melanesians of the neighbouring Pacific Islands, have campaigned for the self-government first initiated as Dutch colonial rule ended in the early 1960s.

The First Papuan People’s Congress in 1961 was part of decolonisation but thwarted by incorporation of the territory into Indonesia after the United Nations-supervised ‘Act of Free Choice’ on the political future of West Papua in 1969 was apparently manipulated to guarantee a majority vote for integration.

The granting of Special Autonomy in 2001, following the Second Papuan Congress, failed to improve the social and economic status or political freedoms of West Papuans.

The Third Papuan Congress led by Selpius Bobii, Papuan Chair of the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB), was convened in Abepura, Jayapura, with approximately 5,000 attending despite the heavy presence of Indonesian security forces.

At the close of the congress on Oct. 19, and following declaration of an independent West Papua, violence broke out as security officers triggered guns to disperse the crowd, fired tear gas and arrested approximately 300 participants.

Indonesian human rights organisation, Kontras, reported evidence of security forces committing “killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and deeds of other inhumane and excessive use of force” against congress participants, while those arrested suffered “acts of violence in the form of beatings with wood, the barrels of guns and were kicked and beaten.”

Six delegates are now dead and the six who remain arrested, including Selpius Bobii, Forkorus Yaboisembut, Chair of the Papuan Customary Council, and Edison Waromi, president of the West Papua National Authority, are charged with treason.

Large pro-independence demonstrations across the provinces over the past year have been galvanised by escalating frustration at ten years of failed Special Autonomy, impunity of human rights abuses by security forces and the government’s promotion of Indonesian migration to Papua and West Papua, resulting in an indigenous demographic minority.

Concurrently the movement has been boosted by the Vanuatu Government’s decision in 2010 to include support for West Papuan Independence in its foreign policy and a high profile International Lawyers for West Papua conference in Britain in August.

Camellia Webb-Gannon, West Papua project co-ordinator, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney, explained: “The central government has failed to pass crucial legislation that would have allowed Special Autonomy to be fully implemented.

“The splitting of West Papua into two provinces undermined Special Autonomy and started the process of ‘pemekeran’ through which Papua and West Papua are being administratively fragmented and thus weakened. Many of the freedoms promised under Special Autonomy, such as the right to fly the (separatist) Morning Star flag, have since been revoked.”

While the government also devolved responsibility for substantial revenues from the giant Freeport-McMoRan-owned Grasberg copper and gold mine in Timika, which generates 50 percent of Papua’s GDP, the province has the lowest human development index in Indonesia.

“Although Papua and West Papua are awash with funds flowing back from the centre, the extent of corruption at the provincial and local administrative levels mean that most of this money never makes its way to the projects and people that need it most,” said Webb-Gannon.

Special Autonomy funds prop up elite corruption and perpetuate military rent-seeking behaviour as there is inadequate restriction on and monitoring of these funds, Webb-Gannon added.

While Indonesia fears secession could lead to national disintegration, ‘makar’ treason laws criminalise separatist demonstrations and the government benefits substantially from the province’s natural resources.

Indonesia has emerged as a strong democracy since the end of the militaristic Suharto regime in 1998, but the power of the armed forces remains extant and their role in human rights abuses, corruption and extortion largely immune to challenges from the state or civil society.

Human Rights Watch reports that: “New allegations of security force involvement in torture emerged in 2010, but the military consistently shields its officers from investigations and the government makes little effort to hold them accountable. Nor was there any progress on a bill before parliament that would give civilian courts jurisdiction to try soldiers accused of committing abuses against civilians.”

Illegal activities of the Indonesian military (Tentara Nasional Indonesia) or TNI in the Papuan provinces includes drug smuggling, prostitution, trade of tropical birds, legal and illegal logging operations, gambling and extorting payments from local villagers.

Corruption watchdog, Global Witness, also revealed in 2005 payments of millions of dollars to the TNI from the Freeport mining company for security services at the Grasberg mine, where recent violent confrontations between the TNI and workers, who have been striking since Sep. 15 over pay grievances, resulted in the death of a miner in mid-October.

Now the Indonesian government has announced the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua will be fast tracking development, overseeing allocation of autonomy funds and initiating dialogue with local civilian groups.

Neles Tebay, a priest with the Catholic Diocese of Jayapura, who is campaigning for peace talks, said: “The West Papuan people have not been treated as human beings and the trust has been broken. Trust between the Indonesian government and Papuan people will not be easy.”

Tebay believes that the Indonesian president should appoint a special envoy to initiate political dialogue with West Papuan political representatives.

Positive government pronouncements currently overlook the main demand of the Third Papuan Congress Declaration, namely termination of Indonesian occupation.

“In Timor, a referendum led to the transformation of the peoples’ aspirations and this is what many of the current generation of activists in West Papua are pushing for,” Webb-Gannon said.

(END)

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Greens: Reports of villages razed, homes torched in West Papua

Reports of villages razed, homes torched in West Papua

http://richard-di-natale.greensmps.org.au/content/news-story/reports-villages-torched-west-papua

Senator Richard Di Natale, Greens spokesperson for West Papua, has expressed his concern at reports of the razing of villages and forced evacuations in the Paniai region of West Papua yesterday during a campaign by Indonesian security forces against local members of the Free Papua National Liberation Army.

Though the area is not open to journalists, reports from human rights organisations suggest that Brimob paramilitary police and elite counter-terrorism troops from Detachment 88, consisting of units armed, trained, and supplied by the Australian Government, were deployed.

“It is very worrying to hear of dozens of villages being torched and helicopters dropping large numbers of Indonesian ground troops into the Paniai region,” said Senator Di Natale.

“If these reports from the region are accurate they indicate a very heavy handed military presence.

“Australia and the rest of the world is watching West Papua right now after the recent violent crackdown at the West Papua People’s Congress. This is yet another very concerning move by the Indonesian military in a region where human rights and democratic freedoms are not being upheld.”

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Initial reports from December 1 in West Papua: TNI respond with violence in Timika

Citizen journalists on the ground have started filing the following reports by SMS (translated from Bahasa Indonesia):

(All times given are local time)

Timika

“December 1st was celebrated in Timika. The flag was raised for approximately minutes. A church service began at 9am. The military then forcibly dispersed everyone. Two people were shot (a man and a woman). The man’s name is Viktus Wamang. He is currently in the hospital in Timika. The woman is yet to be identified. Three people have been detained. The situation is very tense. People are still detained on the field in Timika Indah.” 11:30, Dec. 1.

Sorong

“We marched around the municipality office and are now joining a mass prayer. Around 1,000 to 1,500 people are involved. The police are strictly guarding us. Hope that nothing happens to us.” 10:35, Dec 1.

Manokwari

“The streets of Manokwari are crowded. People are holding a 100m long banner that reads ‘The Federal Republic of West Papua’ and includes a photo of the President [Forkorus Yaboisembut] and the Prime Minister [Edison Waromi] and hundreds of Morning Star Flags.” 11:29, Dec 1.

Puncak Jaya (Nemangkawi in the Amungme language), the highest mountain between the Himalaya and the Andes

A European mountain climber unfurled the Morning Star Flag on the summit of Nemangkawi. The photo and a video has just been released on West Papua Media.

People are now coming out of church services. More flag raisings are expected.

It is expected that tension will increase as people come on the streets across Papua.  West Papua Media will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Witness contacts are available from West Papua Media at +61450079106

0

Shoot to kill threat over defiant Papuan flagraisers

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2011

IN the aftermath of October’s brutal crackdown by Indonesian police on the Third Papuan People’s Congress, local pro-independence committees have organised mass civil resistance in most towns across West Papua to commemorate its 50th anniversary of Independence, tragically cut short by Indonesia’s invasion in 1963.

The banned symbol of West Papua’s independence, the Morning Star flag, will be raised in provocative actions that occupying Indonesian security forces have deemed as an act of rebellion, and have threatened to shoot to kill anyone participating.

Flagraising ceremonies are scheduled to be held in almost twenty centres across Papua and West Papua provinces, including Jayapura, Wamena and Timika.  Massive shows of force have been reported from Indonesian forces to prevent local people from taking part in planned events.

Tensions are high across the Bird’s Head Penninsula of West Papua as hundreds of  paramilitary police (Brimob) seconded to the area exchanged gunfire with local units of National Liberation Army (TPN) and conducted heavy handed searches of homes and villages.

Shots were exchanged from 3pm local time on November 29 in the farming and gold panning village of Markus Eduda between Brimob personel and the village based unit of the National Liberation Army (TPN), led by Jhon Yogi. An estmiated 300 Brimob personel, who are not usually based in the area, are currently stationed in the western villages of Dagouto, Pasir Putih and Bibida.

On November 30 Indonesian soldiers were stationed at the location in the nearby city of Nabire nominated as the venue for a peaceful “praise and worship only” commemeration ceremony, with no flag raising.

Other previously unreported events in the area include escalating fear in villages, since combined military and police forces opened fire in the village of Madi Paniai on August 15, 2011.

Local human rights workers say that since the August shooting, residents of Madi Paniai and the neighbouring villages of Ugi, Weya and Aga have been living in fear, especially people who had fled to the area from other parts of Papua because of its relative safety.

They added that armed personnel were searching homes, rummaging through people’s belongings supposedly looking for sharp tools, and confiscating needles, knives, shovels, arrows and machetes.

They added that the continued presence of the police and military forces and the intimidating and invasive searches were causing widespread distress and prompting people to move to other villages.

According to latest reports the residents of Dagouto, Muyadebe, Uwamani and Badauwo have fled, deserting the villages.

Massive troop buildup

Around Jayapura, several thousand Papuans are expected to attend the 50th anniversary celebrations in Sentani, at the grave of slain independence leader Theys Eluay, who was murdered by Kopassus special forces officers in 2001.

Negotiations with police are still ongoing to allow a gathering and prayer fellowship after organisers were prohibited to raise the Morning Star  At time of writing, Permission had still been refused by Jayapura Police to allow any gatherings.

Local sources have described urban centres across Papua as being like cemetaries with people staying off the streets whilst security force personnel are conducting shows of force.

In Manokwari, a prayer vigil and flagraising is planned together with a nonviolent mass demonstration, but statements from hardline leaders from the guerrilla National Liberation Army (TPN/OPM) have threatened to play into hands of Indonesian security forces planning a crackdown on flagraisers.

On Wednesday night, Manokwari was described as a “Blood Danger Zone” by organisers of independence celebrations after Richard Jouweni, a commander of the TPN,  declared he would use violence against security forces to ensure the banned Morning Star would fly.  Indonesian military commanders in Manokwari have prohibited local organisers from carrying out flagraisings, however these calls are likely to be defied.  The location of the ceremonies are still unknown, while civilians in nearby villages have already started arriving in Manokwari town centre for the events.

Concerns are mounting of significant bloodshed in Serui and Waropen.  Papuan and Indonesian media and human rights workers have reportedly been barred from the centres off the north coast, and the head of police has issued warnings to anyone engaging in political expression.  The police chief in Serui, Daniel Pryo Dwiatmoko, Kepala Kapolres (+6282198480889, +6282198683246) said on November 29 in a interview on Radio Republic Indonesia “If Papuans wish to talk about independence of a nation-state, find another place to talk… We will permit no event regarding flag raising, if there is, its shoot to kill on sight”.

This statement is an eerie echo of Ali Murtopo, the architect of Suharto’s military takeover of West Papua, who in 1969 told the 1025 imprisoned delegates to the contentious Act of “free” Choice – the disputed process by which Indonesia took over West Papua – “We do not want you Papuan’s, we just want your land.  If you want a country of your own, you can go to the moon.  Vote for Indonesia,’ or we will cut out your accursed tongues”.

In Nabire and Biak, prayer gatherings will take place instead of flag raising due to fear.

In Merauke, on the edge of the Torres Strait, 1600 troops from the Indonesian army were airdropped down on November 29,  and unconfirmed reports have filtered through of flagraising actions near the vast Merauke Integrate Food and Energy Estate.

The Australian trained Indonesian special force unit Kopassus is also deploying significantly across Papua to crackdown on peaceful free expression.  Confirmed reports from disgruntled Kopassus sources to West Papua Media are describing 213 troops (2 companies) being deployed in Keerom and Jayapura, and another two companies  of Kopassus have been deployed in Yakuhimo regency in the Highlands.  Local human rights sources have described these Kopassus groups as “waiting around for a chance to crackdown”.

International media and human rights organisations are banned from Papua by Jakarta, however close monitoring of the situation is occurring through international media in conjunction with citizen media sources.

The Australian Government, while deepening ties with the Indonesian military despite widespread international condemnation of it’s human rights abuses, claimed to West Papua Media that Australia and Indonesia regularly exchange views on the situation in Papua.  According to a spokesperson for the Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, “The Australian Government closely follows developments in the Papuan provinces … and encourages all concerned to act with restraint”.  No mention was made of the need for Indonesian forces to allow peaceful political expression to occur without escalation.

West Papua Media will be monitoring this developing situation closely, and encourages other journalists to maintain close contact with us. 

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