President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Presiden RI, Istana Merdeka Jakarta Pusat 10110 Indonesia

29 May 2005

Dear President Yudhoyono,

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A Papua district court sentenced Papuan separatist leaders Philep Karma and Yusak Pakage to 15 and 10 years in jail respectively on Thursday for "treason

Len Garae, Port Vila – Vanuatu's Prime Minister has blamed "foreign elements" for an incident last week where the Indonesian flag on the vehicle of Jakarta's ambassador to Port Vila was

Jayapura – The court hearing at the Jayapura State Court on Monday May 23 in the case of Filep Karma and Yusack Pakage who are charged with raising of the Morning Star Flag was marred w

Suherdjoko and Nethy Dharma Somba, Semarang/Jayapura – Discontent with disciplinary actions taken against police officers involved in the violent handling of protesters in Papua, dozens

Nethy Dharma Somba and Suherdjoko, Jayapura/Semarang – Under mounting public pressure, Papua provincial police replaced on Friday another senior policeman held responsible for the shodd

Carmel Budiardjo, London – Despite being chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and affirming its commitment to human rights, including self-determination, at the recent Asian-Afric

Neles Tebay, Rome – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to visit the United States, the European Union (EU), and Japan.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A senior Papuan police officer has been replaced and four other are being questioned for alleged human rights violations following a violent clash between

Jayapura – The separatist trial of Philip Karma and Yusak Pakage who are each facing five years jail at the Jayapura State Court on Tuesday May 10 has ended in a riot.

Jakarta – Dozens of people were injured Tuesday when police clashed with independence supporters in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua, news reports said.

At least 13 people including two policewomen were injured when an angry crowd threw stones at the trial of a popular pro-independence activist in Indonesia's Papua province, officials s

About 300 protesters demonstrated outside the Jayapura provincial council buildings on Monday against the United Nations' decision to give Indonesia control of the province in 1963.

George Monbiot – It all seems a very long way away. But what is happening in an obscure island nation in the south Pacific has now become our business.

Port Numbay (Jayapura) – Around 500 indigenous Papuans organised by the Papua Youth Group (Kelompok Pemuda Papua) held a demonstration against the integration of West Papua in to the Un

See also below: West Papua Solidarity Meeting clarification

Jakarta – Vice-President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla has requested the Phillippines government not to interfere in Indonesia's internal affairs in relation to the problem of Papua.

The government of the Philippines and the University of the Philippines say they do not support a meeting discussing the issue of independence for West Papua.

On Saturday April 25, hundreds of people from the Liberation Front against the Oppression of Papua (Front Pembebasan Penindasan Papua, FP3) went to the Papuan Provisional Parliament in

Gunawan Mashar – Makassar: Around 30 Papuan [Irian Jaya] students in Makassar went to the South Sulawesi Provincial DPR [House of Representatives] in Jl Urip Sumohardjo, Makassar on Wed

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Some 800 students from the United West Papua Democratic Students Front demanded on Monday that two police officers charged for their roles in human rights

The indigenous Christian Papuans in Eastern Indonesia are facing genocide and in desperate need of support and prayers.

John Roberts – Even as Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono postures as a "democrat", his government has given the go-ahead for the dispatch of an additional 15,000 troops from

Green MP Keith Locke returned today from a three-day trip to West Papua conveying a request from Papuan leaders that New Zealand champion their cause at the Pacific Islands Forum.

Mr. Eddy Pratomo
Deputy Chief of Missiom
Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia

Dear Sir,

Jayapura – The number of people with HIV/AIDS is on the rise in Papua, with around 500 people testing positive for the virus every year.

The decision to establish a KOSTRAD headquarters in Timika and to station three new battalions in Papua is likely to upset public opinion.

A West Papuan church leader has urged the federal government not to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses in his homeland as it contemplates a new security pact with Indonesia.

Paul Kingsnorth – Nona Kogoya was two years old when she died. She had been a normal, healthy young girl; but that was before the soldiers came.

Jakarta – The plan of the Indonesian National Army to form a Regional Army Force in Merauke – West Papua and the plan to add a third division of Army Strategic Force Reserve in West Pap

The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces General Endriartono Sutarto, the commander of KOSTRAD Lt.General Hadi Waluyo, and spokesman for the Armed Forces, Brig.General Hotmangaridja P

Jakarta – Indonesian House of Parliament Technical Delegation for Inter-parliamentarian Bilateral Cooperation warned the government to take serious preventive actions towards the separa

Jayapura – Major-General Nurdin Zainal, commander of the Trikora/XVII division, has announced that Kostrad, the Army Strategic Command will set up a base in Timika District, Papua in th

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A 23-member delegation from the Papua provincial legislative council is protesting the installment of the controversial West Irian Jaya council.

Greg Poulgrain – The Indonesian military is planning to increase troop numbers in restive Papua province by an additional 15,000 personnel from Kostrad, the Strategic Reserve Command.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Army plans to set up a new division of elite troops and station it in the country's westernmost province of Papua, where rebel groups have been fighting a l

These days, most Australians are well and truly aware of the suffering that the people of East Timor went through before they finally gained their independence from Indonesia back in 19

Brendan Nicholson – Indonesian troops in West Papua used resources earmarked for humanitarian aid and development in the province for an offensive against rebels of the Free Papua Movem

The attack in Timika in August 2002 not only wounded Patsy Spiers, it also killed Rick Spiers, her beloved husband of 20 years.

The identity of the gunman at Mile 62 is still a mystery. Indonesian Police do not have any evidence with which to arrest the FBI's suspect.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The provincial offices of the General Elections Commission (KPUD) in Papua said they were unprepared to organize the direct elections for regional heads i

Jayapura – The number of people living with HIV/AIDS has reached an alarming level in the nation's easternmost province of Papua.

The Indonesian government is considering splitting the province currently known as Papua into five new provinces, in what is seen by many to be another weapon in its fight against Papua

Washington – Researchers and advocates today called on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to consider new evidence of Indonesian involvement in an August 2002 attack on US citizens

We have just received a tragic message from a Papuan contact (copied below), letting us know that three more Papuans have died in just one of the many refugee camps in the jungles of We

Jakarta – The idea of dividing West Papua into five provinces has been mooted again.

Rendi A.

Laksamana.Net – The government has reportedly accepted a proposal to divide resource-rich and rebellious Papua province into five provinces by 2009, despite the Constitutional Court's r

Reported by: Rev. Socratez Sofyan Yoman, MA, President of West Papuan Baptist Church

A. The burning of School and District buildings

Chitra Ramaswamy – Human rights activists and church organisations predict that, without international attention and intervention, West Papua is in danger of becoming the next East Timo