PNG defends decision to repatriate West Papuans

Posted at 18:16 on 17 May, 2009 UTC

Papua New Guinea has been defending its agreement to repatriate 700 West Papuans to neighbouring Indonesia.

Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister, Sam Abal, says there’s nothing new about his country’s officials working with their Indonesian counterparts.

The agreement between the two nations’ leaders was announced last week after a meeting also attended by the Indonesian military commander.

Mr Abal says it’s always been the case that his government helps facilitate the return of Papuans who have fled Indonesia should they want to return.

  “There have been for some time quite a few people from West papua on this side but it’s always been our wish to process them, whether they decide to stay in PNG, where there’s always the opportunity for citizenship, but where they’re not able to do that they can be repatriated to a third country. But the best option we always look at is to see if they be returned and be accepted over there (Indonesia)”

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Papuans seek US support for dialogue with Jakarta

Posted at 21:31 on 08 May, 2009 UTC

West Papua advocates have been urging the United States to apply meaningful pressure on Indonesia for internationally-facilitated dialogue between Jakarta and Papuan leaders.

A member of the West Papua Advocacy Team spoke before a US Congressional panel about threats to human rights and the environment in Indonesia’s Papua region.

The NGO has joined with the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network, or ETAN, in urging Washington to move beyond the current Special Autonomy arrangement in Papua to address the growing human rights crisis.

Their appeal came in response to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s call for a degree of autonomy for Papuans.

ETAN’s John Miller says he doesn’t think the statement signals a fresh approach from the previous Bush administration.

  “The Papuans themselves are saying that Special Autonomy has failed, and that they would like meaningful discussion which we think the US has the potential – because of (President) Obama’s background – to do with Indonesia about what Papua’s future should be where everything is on the table.”

John Miller

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Nederlands Nieuw Guinea – Dutch New Guinea, Biak 1961 b

Nederlands Nieuw Guinea – Dutch New Guinea, Biak 1961,
originally uploaded by Mistifarang.

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Nederlands Nieuw Guinea – Dutch New Guinea, Biak 1961 a

Nederlands Nieuw Guinea – Dutch New Guinea, Biak 1961,
originally uploaded by Mistifarang.

More photos of a Dutch Army in West Irian

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Papua church leader encourages development of wambad mounds to combat flooding

RNZI Posted at 04:05 on 16 February, 2009 UTCA

Catholic Archbishop in the Papua region of Indonesia, is encouraging people to return to traditional practices to avert natural disasters.Archbishop Nicolaus Adi Saputra of Merauke has suggested people return to the practice of building wambad mounds on which sago trees and other crops can be planted, to protect against rising tides.

The archbishop made his comments in the wake of tidal flooding in early January that hit five villages in the Wan subdistrict of Merauke.The villages were inundated with up to one metre of seawater in the worst flooding in recent years.

It destroyed banana, cassava, coconut and other crops, and according to some reports several thousand villagersnow face a food crisis.Archbishop Saputra says wambad allow seawater to drain from the land quickly, thus helping to preserve crops.

Posted via web from Papua Press Agency

Separatist rebels killed an army soldier and set a bridge on fire in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua,

Jakarta – Separatist rebels killed an army soldier and set a bridge on fire in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua, media reports said Sunday. Army Private Saiful was shot in the head Saturday when rebels of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) attacked security posts in Tigginambut of Puncak Jaya district, district police chief Chris Rihulay said.

It was the latest in a series of attacks by separatists in Papua province in recent days. On Tuesday, alleged separatist rebels killed two motorcycle taxi drivers in Puncak Jaya district, an area where rebels have been active, police said. In January, insurgents armed with sickles and arrows raided a police post and stabbed the wife of an officer before making off with four guns and ammunition. Police arrested one person for that attack. The OPM is a small group of separatist rebels that has been fighting a sporadic rebellion in Papua, formerly Irian Jaya, since the early 1960s. Papua, a predominantly ethnic Melanesian province 3,700 kilometres north-east of Jakarta, is a former Dutch colony that became an Indonesian

Posted via web from Papua Press Agency

Google News Alert for: west papua, 09 April 2009

Australia: On World Health Day – A New Strategy To Tackle HIV In … ISRIA (subscription) – Washington,DC,USA HIV prevalence reached 1.6 per cent in rural Papua New Guinea in 2008 and 2.4 per cent in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua in 2006. 1. … See all stories on this topic

Radio New Zealand International Australian Government called on to investigate latest violence in … Radio New Zealand International – Wellington,New Zealand Joe Collins of the Australian West Papua Association says Canberra should immediately send observers from its embassy in Jakarta to report to the government … See all stories on this topic

Election inflames Indonesia Papua separatists Radio Australia – Melbourne,Victoria,Australia It followed a dawn raid on the offices of the KNPB, the West Papuan National Committee, in which 15 people were arrested. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono … See all stories on this topic

Posted via web from Papua Press Agency