June 1, 2006. Perth Indymedia: A West Papuan Independence supporter currently in PNG, has just filed a report from the recion by satelite phone. The following information was posted to the AWPA email list... "...up to 40 people have been taken at night in recent months / mother's of those who have fled are being arrested, beaten and tortured for 3-4 days..." --
Waves of disappearances in the region
FROM THE REPORT:
"There are 3 militia training camps near Arso and Wendi villages. 2500 troops dressed in full combat gear and body armour are training daily. The camps have tanks and helicopters and the troops are bunking down with the jihadists."
"There have been waves of disappearances in the region, so-called 'ninja' attacks where up to 40 people have been taken at night in recent months."
There is an urgent and desperate call to support the refugees. Immediate action by UNHCR is required...
"Only 80 of the refugees who fled following March 16 have been accounted for. Up to 380 are lost and considered dead. There is clear evidence of a campiagn to exterminate the people involved in March 16."
(After police attacked a protest outside the Cendrawasih University in the West Papuan capital Jayapura on March 16, several police officers and an Indonesian military intelligence officer were killed. Many students and other citizens, including a five-year-old child, were injured in the conflict and more than 70 people were arrested. Protesters were demanding the closure of the giant US-owned Freeport gold and copper mine and the withdrawal of the Indonesian military (TNI) and police from West Papua.)
Our correspondent has heard "compelling and horrible stories. The military are striking the villages from where the refugees came and mother's of those who have fled are being arrested, beaten and tortutred for 3-4 days.
He says, "there is no access to support them, no food, they are homeless and scared shitless. All are traumatised. We need a concerted international effort to get people out of there."
It is really important to think about what is happening in East Timor as Indonesia seems ready to launch a cross border offensive on refugee camps in PNG. The biggest security threat in the region..."
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SOME BACKGROUND INFO:
Incident & Reprisals in Abepura West Papua. From a press release by the Australia West Papua Association Saturday, 18 March 2006...
Incident in Abepura West Papua: The Australia West Papua Association calls on the Australian Government to raise the dangerously deteriorating situation in West Papua with the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to avoid further escalation of the situation.
The Australia West Papua Association is concerned that the Indonesian security forces are conducting reprisals not only against those involved in protests in the University town of Abepura, but also in the general community as well.
The demonstrators who had been protesting last Thursday against the giant Freeport gold and copper mine in West Papua, had blocked the road to the airport in the town of Abepura, on the outskirts of Jayapura.
The resulting clash between the Indonesian security forces and protesters has left four security personal dead and an unknown number of demonstrators have been shot and wounded.
Reports from a human rights worker from the Papua-based human rights group, ELSHAM, who was in the crowd when police opened fire has told the ABC what he saw. "We evacuated several victims, there were men who got shot in the chest, another in the right leg and another in the right side of the forehead. But they were not then only ones, there were many more. We evacuated one victim who had been left in a swamp. There were more men coming to help those who got shot and to take them to the nearest hospital."
Media and eyewitness reports indicate that the security forces are now conducting reprisals against the community at large.
A report by another human rights worker from the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights, said the police had blocked roads and were searching every vehicle and that "The Papuans, the young ones, have been taken and beaten, kicked, hit with guns and threatened," he said.
Up to 57 people have been arrested in connection with Thursday's demonstration while other protesters have fled to the bush. A police spokesman Kartono Wangsa Disastra has said that that those who fled “would be hunted down” and "We will never stop hunting these people who have created havoc and murdered our officers."
The local population in the region are already in great fear of reprisals and the Indonesian security forces are known to use incidents such as protests to terorise and crack down on any organisation they term to be separatists.
To avoid further escalation of the situation , we call on the Australian Government to raise the matter with the Indonesian President urging him to control the security forces in the territory and that any operations planned should be halted and personal returned to their barracks as a way of easing tensions and avoiding further bloodshed."
SOURCES:
http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/wpapua.htm
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0603/S00320.htm
WEST PAPUA: Police crackdown after anti-Freeport protests
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/662/662p19b.htm
DATELINE SBS: West Papua Militia - March 16, 2005
http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=transcript&dte=2005-03-16
West Papua is the next East Timor:
http://www.koteka.net/
www.perth.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=20159
"There are 3 militia training camps near Arso and Wendi villages. 2500 troops dressed in full combat gear and body armour are training daily. The camps have tanks and helicopters and the troops are bunking down with the jihadists."
"There have been waves of disappearances in the region, so-called 'ninja' attacks where up to 40 people have been taken at night in recent months."
There is an urgent and desperate call to support the refugees. Immediate action by UNHCR is required...
"Only 80 of the refugees who fled following March 16 have been accounted for. Up to 380 are lost and considered dead. There is clear evidence of a campiagn to exterminate the people involved in March 16."
(After police attacked a protest outside the Cendrawasih University in the West Papuan capital Jayapura on March 16, several police officers and an Indonesian military intelligence officer were killed. Many students and other citizens, including a five-year-old child, were injured in the conflict and more than 70 people were arrested. Protesters were demanding the closure of the giant US-owned Freeport gold and copper mine and the withdrawal of the Indonesian military (TNI) and police from West Papua.)
Our correspondent has heard "compelling and horrible stories. The military are striking the villages from where the refugees came and mother's of those who have fled are being arrested, beaten and tortutred for 3-4 days.
He says, "there is no access to support them, no food, they are homeless and scared shitless. All are traumatised. We need a concerted international effort to get people out of there."
It is really important to think about what is happening in East Timor as Indonesia seems ready to launch a cross border offensive on refugee camps in PNG. The biggest security threat in the region..."
=========
SOME BACKGROUND INFO:
Incident & Reprisals in Abepura West Papua. From a press release by the Australia West Papua Association Saturday, 18 March 2006...
Incident in Abepura West Papua: The Australia West Papua Association calls on the Australian Government to raise the dangerously deteriorating situation in West Papua with the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to avoid further escalation of the situation.
The Australia West Papua Association is concerned that the Indonesian security forces are conducting reprisals not only against those involved in protests in the University town of Abepura, but also in the general community as well.
The demonstrators who had been protesting last Thursday against the giant Freeport gold and copper mine in West Papua, had blocked the road to the airport in the town of Abepura, on the outskirts of Jayapura.
The resulting clash between the Indonesian security forces and protesters has left four security personal dead and an unknown number of demonstrators have been shot and wounded.
Reports from a human rights worker from the Papua-based human rights group, ELSHAM, who was in the crowd when police opened fire has told the ABC what he saw. "We evacuated several victims, there were men who got shot in the chest, another in the right leg and another in the right side of the forehead. But they were not then only ones, there were many more. We evacuated one victim who had been left in a swamp. There were more men coming to help those who got shot and to take them to the nearest hospital."
Media and eyewitness reports indicate that the security forces are now conducting reprisals against the community at large.
A report by another human rights worker from the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights, said the police had blocked roads and were searching every vehicle and that "The Papuans, the young ones, have been taken and beaten, kicked, hit with guns and threatened," he said.
Up to 57 people have been arrested in connection with Thursday's demonstration while other protesters have fled to the bush. A police spokesman Kartono Wangsa Disastra has said that that those who fled “would be hunted down” and "We will never stop hunting these people who have created havoc and murdered our officers."
The local population in the region are already in great fear of reprisals and the Indonesian security forces are known to use incidents such as protests to terorise and crack down on any organisation they term to be separatists.
To avoid further escalation of the situation , we call on the Australian Government to raise the matter with the Indonesian President urging him to control the security forces in the territory and that any operations planned should be halted and personal returned to their barracks as a way of easing tensions and avoiding further bloodshed."
SOURCES:
http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/wpapua.htm http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0603/S00320.htm WEST PAPUA: Police crackdown after anti-Freeport protests
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/662/662p19b.htm DATELINE SBS: West Papua Militia - March 16, 2005
http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=transcript&dte=2005-03-16 West Papua is the next East Timor:
http://www.koteka.net/ www.perth.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=20159
