Tag: village burnings

Perpetrators of Bloody Wamena Incident should be brought to justice

JUBI, 4 April 2012

The Aliansi Demokrasi Untuk Papua – Democratic Alliance for Papua – has called on the Indonesian government and specifically on the police force  to immediately arrest and charge  the perpetrators of the serious bloody incident  which occurred at the time of an  attack on the ammunition dump of  Kodim – district military command – 1702 in Wamena on 4 April 2003.

Cory Silva, speaking on behalf of the ALDP, said that the government should also provide a clarification about the incident.

She said that incident was a serious tragedy that led to the loss of many lives.

‘As far as we know, the government has failed to acknowledge responsibility for that incident and it has simply been swept under the carpet,’ she told journalists.

She called on Komnas HAM, the National Human Rights Commission, and the Attorney General’s Office, to provide information about any recent developments with regard to the case. It seems to us, she said, that the incident has got stuck somewhere between these two agencies.

‘We urge the government to provide clarifications with regard to any developments concerning the case. This would help explain things to the victims  and to the general public,’

Cory went on to say that the police should arrest the perpetrators and bring them before the court. ‘If at all possible, the persons behind that incident should be arrested and face justice in accordance with the law of the land.’

The deputy director of the ALDP in Jayapura, Yusman Conoras, said the state should accept responsibility for those who became political prisoners  in connection with the case, bearing in mind that they received heavy sentences. ‘Those who were held as tapols in connection with this case need special attention because of the heavy sentences they have had to serve,’ he said.

According to the available  information, the security forces rounded up six persons whose names are as follows: Kanius Murib, Enos Lokobal, Jefrai Murib, Numbunnga Telenggen, Kimanus Wenda and Michael Hesello. They were tried and convicted by the district court in Makasar. They are at present facing proceedings before the Makasar State Court. The first three were sentenced to 20 years, while the other three were given life sentences.

One of the co-defendants, Michael Hesello, fell ill and died  while he was being held in Gunung Sari Prison in Makasar. The others are at present facing proceedings at the Makasar State Court.

[Translated by TAPOL.]

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Groups Urge U.S. Not to Sell Attack Helicopters to Indonesia

AH-64 Apache
AH-64 Apache (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Press Release

Contact: John M. Miller, +1-718-596-7668; mobile: +1-917-690-4391, john@etan.org
Ed McWilliams, +1-575-648-2078, edmcw@msn.com

March 30, 2012 – Ninety organizations today urged the U.S. government and Congress not to provide deadly attack helicopters to Indonesia. Indonesia has announced that it plans to buy eight AH-64 Apache attack helicopters from the United States.

The groups warned that the helicopters will escalate conflicts in Indonesia, especially in the rebellious region of West Papua: “Providing these helicopters would pose a direct threat to Papuan civilians.”

The Indonesian military (TNI) regularly conducts “sweep operations,” involving attacks on villages where innocent villagers are forced from their homes. The groups write that “Papuan civilians either flee the attacks to neighboring villages or into the surrounding forests where many die or face starvation, cut off from access to their gardens, shelter, and medical care.” Sweep operations are now underway in the Central Highlands region of West Papua.

The letter was organized by the U.S.-based East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) and the West Papua Advocacy Team and signed by human rights, religious, indigenous rights, disarmament and other organizations based in 14 countries.

Signers include: Faith-based Network on West Papua, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Peace Action, International Lawyers for West Papua, Land Is Life, KontrS (Indonesia), and Pax Christi Australia. A complete list of signers can be found here: http://www.etan.org/news/2012/03helicop.htm

The AH-64 is designed for air to ground attack. It can operate day or night and is armed with high caliber chain guns and equipped to fire missiles.

ETAN was formed in 1991. It celebrated its 20th anniversary this December 10, advocates for democracy, justice and human rights for Timor-Leste and Indonesia. See ETAN’s web site: http://www.etan.org

Text of Letter

As organizations concerned about human rights in Indonesia and West Papua, we are writing to urge the U.S. government and Congress not to allow the sale of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to the Indonesian military (TNI). Providing these helicopters would pose a direct threat to Papuan civilians, who have been the target of deadly TNI assaults for many years.

The sale of this weapons system to the TNI — notwithstanding its long record of disregard for civilian casualties, corruption, human rights violations and impunity in East Timor, Aceh and elsewhere — would only increase the suffering of the Papuan population.

Indonesia’s Deputy Minister of Defense Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told the Antara news agency, that  Indonesia intends to buy eight AH-64 Apache helicopter from the United States.

The heavily-armed AH-64 is a highly lethal weapon which can be used to escalate conflict within Indonesia and in West Papua. These aircraft will substantially augment the TNI’s capacity to prosecute its “sweep operations” in West Papua and thereby, almost certainly lead to increased suffering among the  civilian populations long victimized by such operations.

TNI “sweep operations,” including several now underway in the Central Highlands region of West Papua, involve attacks on villages. Homes are destroyed, along with churches and public buildings. These assaults, purportedly to eliminate the poorly armed Papuan armed resistance, force innocent villagers from their homes. Papuan civilians either flee the attacks to neighboring villages or into the surrounding forests where many die or face starvation, cut off from access to their gardens, shelter, and medical care.

The AH-64 is designed for air to ground attack. It can operate day or night and is armed with high caliber chain guns . It is also equipped to fire missiles.

Congress must be notified of major weapons sales. We urge Congress to oppose the sale of these helicopters.


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Troop deployment to Paniai must stop

JUBI, 3 January 2012
Responding to reports from the community in Paniai that additional troops are still arriving in Paniai, the deputy chair of the Majelis Rakyat Papua said that this must stop

Venetina Koyoga said that according to the most recent information from Paniai, additional troops continue to arrive there while local people are reported to be evacuating from the area.

‘According to information we have received from the people there, the inhabitants of two kampungs have already evacuated. We are checking these reports but if they are indeed true, I would like to stress that no more troops should be sent there,. This must stop so as to ensure that the people there can live in peace, instead of what is happening now. Let us all sit down together, the Governor, the MRP and the DPRP, and agree to a good solution.’

If there is any increase in the number of troops, there should be coordination between representatives of the people in the province, such as the governor, the DPRP and the MRP. If there is no such coordination, the people there will continue to feel threatened,’ she said.

‘I very much regret the fact that there have been acts of violence against people living in Nabire, Puncak Jaya, Ttimika and other places in Papua. We should all sit down together and find the best solution to the problems there. The deployment of troops should end and those troops already there should be withdrawn.’

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Australia Involved in Military Operations in Paniai, West Papua

EXCLUSIVE REPORT FROM WEST PAPUA MEDIA

21 December 2011

Alex Rayfield

Human Rights Defenders in West Papua accuse the Australian Government and an Australian-owned mining company, Paniai Gold, of being involved in ongoing military operations in Paniai, West Papua.

Mr Ferry Marisan alleges that the Australian-trained Indonesian counter-terrorism unit Detachment 88 (also known as Densus 88 or D88), is involved in ongoing military operations in Paniai.   According to Marisan, the Director of Elsham Papua, the Institute for the Study and Advocacy of Human Rights in West Papua, the  joint police and military D88 have been embedded in the Second “Coconut” (Kelapa Dua) paramilitary Police Force (Brimob) sent from West Java for military operations against suspected members of the West Papua Liberation Army (or TPN), based at Eduda, Paniai.

According to Mr Yones Douw, a human rights defender based in Paniai, D88 are currently being deployed against members of the TPN in a jungle warfare operation. John Yogi – the Paniai based commander of the TPN – and his men, believed to number a few dozen, fled into the jungle following an attack on his base in Eduda by the Indonesian military and police between the 12-15 December.

Marisan says that in total 30 people have died during the latest round of violence in Paniai Seventeen people were shot dead during the military operations in Eduda.  Only ten of these victims were members of the TPN, according to Marisan.   Between the 9th and 14th of December a further three people died, all from exposure related sickness.  Amongst the dead were two children aged two and four. Prior to the military operations Brimob also shot dead eight Papuans. Yogi’s men responded by killing two Brimob soldiers, an event that triggered the recent military operations.

In addition Elsham Papua reports that the following six villages were burnt to the ground: Toko, Badawo, Dogouto, Obayoweta, Dey, and Wamanik. As a result of the violence Marisan says that up to 20,000 people have fled their homes. ”They are living in government care centres, or staying with family and friends.  Many have also fled to the forest” says Marisan.

SBS Radio reported that a spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says that the “Australian Government does not train or fund Indonesia’s security forces to counter separatism.”

Irrespective of the training that both the Australian and U.S government’s say they provide to D88 , both Douw and Marisan claim that group is being used in military operations against so-called separatists.  “Many of the victims in these operations” says Marisan, “are not members of the TPN, they are ordinary Papuan villagers who are supposed to be protected by the state”. D88 was also allegedly involved in the killing of six Papuans at the conclusion of the Third Papuan Congress on October 19.

D88 is not the only link between Australia and the recent wave of violence.

According to both Douw and Marisan, helicopters used at the Derewo River Gold (DRG) project were utilised by the Military and Police in these latest military operations. DRG is operated by Paniai Gold, a fully owned subsidiary of Melbourne based gold mining company West Wits Mining. A local source, requesting anonymity, told West Papua Media that the helicopters are those used by the mining company. “They are white with blue and red markings” the sources said. “They are defiantly mining company helicopters.”

The person responsible for Paniai Gold’s operations is Mr Vincent Savage, a Non-Executive Director of West Wits. According to publicly available company documents “Mr Savage has been intimately involved in all governmental and regulatory issues involving the Derewo River Gold Project as well as working closely with the Company’s local Indonesian partners.”

These same documents state that “security [for the DRG Project] will be provided by the local Paniai police and Brimob (Indonesian paramilitary police) under the supervision of a Company Security Officer”.

West Papua Media attempted to contact Mr Savage for comment, but he was not available.

The 2011 November-December military operations are not the first military operations in the area. Paniai was the scene of widespread military operations between 1963-1969, 1977-1978, and again in 1981-1982. During this period U.S. supplied Bronco aircraft were used to bomb villages while helicopters strafed Papuans with machine gun fire.

“People don’t forget these things easily” says Douw.

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SBS: Indonesia attacking Papuans: claim

19 Dec 2011
By Stefan Armbruster
Download Episode Duration00:03:09 Download2MB
POLRI GEGANA anti-terrorism troops attacking peaceful flagraisers, Taokou Village, East Paniai , December 1 (West Papua Media)

A Papuan human rights group says Indonesian helicopters have been strafing villages, killing more than a dozen people and displacing up to 25,000 others, in their latest operation against the Free Papua Movement, or OPM.

Indonesian media has reported clashed between OPM fighters and the police and military – known as TNI – in the past week in the troubled province.

West Papuans have been seeking independence since Indonesia invaded in 1962, at the end of 130 years of Dutch colonial rule.

Stefan Armbruster spoke with the director of the Institute of Human Rights Study and Advocacy in the Papuan city of Jayapura, Ferry Marisan.

Download Episode Duration00:03:09 Download2MB

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