A West Papua rebel leader has claimed responsibility for the killing of three Indonesian soldiers.

The many years of lobby by the Independence movement the OPM, a job now carried on by West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL) has entered a new chapter in its international

Jakarta – Mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia will resume operations in its open-pit with government permission after being idle for more than a month following a fatal tunnel collapse.

The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation says the decision by the Melanesian Spearhead Group to retain its application for MSG membership is a major boost to efforts to bring th

Issues of decolonisation and self-determination took centre stage at the just-completed 19th Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders Summit in New Caledonia.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group says it "fully supports" the right of West Papuans to self determination.

Presenter: Geraldine Coutts

Eoin Blackwell, Papua New Guinea – Papua New Guinea's opposition has launched a broadside against Prime Minister Peter O'Neill over his government's recent signing of an extradition tre

Presidential Regulation (Perpres) 40 of 2013, a new order issued by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to "Build Roads to Faciltate the Expansion of Development in Papua and West Papua

Godwin Ligo – Oceania Decolonization Committee (ODC) president Shem Rarua said Vanuatu leaders compromising the nation's stand on West Papua with the rest of the Melanesian Spearhead Gr

Hipolitus Yolisandy Ringgi Wangge & Agustinus Kambuaya – The Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka or OPM) has opened an office in the city of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Efforts to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in the Indonesian provinces of Papua, which has among the country's highest rates of infection, and West Papua are making steady though slow progr

The leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group have signed off on a communique at the end of their meeting, raising issues of alleged human rights abuses in the Indonesian Province of We

Noumea, New Caledonia – Another group has emerged claiming to legitimately represent the people of West Papua are lobbying for recognition at the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Leader

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has invited foreign ministers from Melanesian nations grouped under the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to Jakarta to receive brie

Farouk Arnaz – Papua Police have named another two suspects over the burning down of a police station in the east of the restive province, bringing the total to eight suspects, police s

A man in Indonesia's Papua province says he is currently on the run from the military after witnessing a massacre of Papuans reported last month.

Farouk Arnaz – Police in Papua have arrested 14 people following Sunday's attack on a police district headquarters in Pegunungan Bintang, a police official said on Wednesday.

Jennifer Robinson – As the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) prepares to consider West Papua's application for membership, it is important for member states to consider international law

Banjir Ambarita – Dozens of people vandalized Freeport facilities and looted ore concentrate at the copper and gold giant's mining district in Mimika, Papua, on Sunday.

It has been recommended that a bid by the Free West Papua movement to join regional Pacific body the Melanesian Spearhead Group to been deferred by at least six months.

Carlos Paath – The Mimika Regency government in Papua has asked the central government to push forward talks with Freeport Indonesia in order to speed up the reopening of the company's

Farouk Arnaz & Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – High ranking police officers and reinforcements arrived at the Papuan highland town of Oksibil on Monday following an arson attack on the

Serui – Following a number of violent incidents that have occurred in Yapen Island, the security forces have conduced sweepings along the coast and in Kanawa Kampung to see whether the

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The situation in Tembagapura mile 74, a Freeport Indonesia mining area, is reported to be quiet again after incidents of property damage perpetrated by a

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – A mob armed with machetes and arrows stormed a police district headquarters in Pegunungan Bintang, setting the building and several vehicles ablaze after cla

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill is planning to discuss the topics of trade, border security and extradition during his three-day visit to Indonesia over the weekend, a rep

PT Freeport Indonesia workers called off a strike planned for today that would have halted maintenance at the world's biggest copper mine, after the company suspended officials held res

A journalist in Indonesia's Papua province says yesterday's student rally was forcibly broken up by police who are currently searching for the organiser.

Damien McElroy – Benny Wenda, a 38-year-old exile from the Pacific territory of West Papua, has recently opened an office on the Cowley Road for his campaign seeking independence for th

A demonstration by dozens of students from Cenderawasih University calling for West Papua to become a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group was forced to disperse by the police on th

Jayapura – The former chairman of the KNPB (National Committee of West Papua), Buchtar Tabuni, has been released after being interrogated by the police.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Papua – The police forcibly dispersed a student mass rally held in front of Cendrawasih University campus in Waena, Jayapura, Papua province, on Wednesday.

Please find attached the West Papuan community's response to Foreign Minister Bob Carr's comments at the Senate Estimates, that the West Papuan Independence Movement is "a cruel deceit"

The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation says its participation at the Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders Summit next week will help elevate the status of its cause.

Papuan independence activists in Vanuatu say membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group would be a major breakthrough in its fight for independence from Indonesia.

Jayapura – In response to the decision of the government of Papua New Guinea to reject a request by the OPM to open an office in Port Moresby, the Director of Baptist Voice-Papua, Mathi

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura, Papua – State-owned energy company Pertamina says it does not know how a low-ranking police officer in Papua who is accused of fuel smuggling and illegal logg

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – A man was murdered on Thursday after he allegedly refused to join the Free Papua Organization (OPM), police said.

Australia's Foreign Minister has accused people who advocate self-determination rights of West Papuans of misleading the indigenous people of Indonesia's Papua region.

AWPA has written to Senator Carr about the possibility of another crackdown by the security forces on rallies called by the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) for the 10 June.

Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
PO Box 28
Spit Junction NSW 2088

6 June 2013

Australian Greens Senator, Dr Richard Di Natale, has condemned the Australian Foreign Minister's comments in Senate Estimates where he blamed the escalating tensions in West Papua on th

New Caledonia's pro-independence FLNKS Movement has officially invited West Papua to attend this month's Melanesian Spearhead Group summit in Noumea.

Camelia Pasandaran – Political prisoners held at Papua's Abepura Prison rejected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's offer to grant them clemency as part of the Home Affairs Ministry's

Arya Dipa, Bandung – Members of the Papuan Students Alliance (AMP) studying in West Java staged a rally on Monday demanding the United Nations hold a referendum on Papua.

Rangga Prakoso – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold reported another death at its Grasberg mine in Papua on Sunday after a worker was seriously injured while conducting maintenance on a

London – Two human rights lawyers from West Papua, Olga Hamadi and Gustaf Kawer, are today being honoured at a ceremony for the Lawyers for Lawyers Award in Amsterdam.

The secretary of the KNPB – National Committee for West Papua – Ones Suhuniap has said that the governor of Papua, the chief of police and the commander of XVII Cenderawasih Military Co

Bagus BT Saragih and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta, Jayapura – Frightened by a series of reports of missing persons in the past few weeks, several residents of Puncak Jaya, Papua, have le

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papua provincial administration and the central government will revise Law No.