Lloyd Jones – Hundreds of people have rallied in Port Moresby to urge Pacific leaders meeting there to take West Papua's case for independence from Indonesia to the United Nations.
Activists for the cause of Melanesians in the Indonesian province on Papua New Guinea's western border, also wanted the Pacific Islands Forum to admit West Papuan delegates as observers. But they have been barred from this week's meeting.
As forum leaders met in a hotel, West Papuan independence supporters rallied peacefully on the beach below to hear speeches and display West Papuan flags.
Rally spokesman John Tekwie said the West Papua New Guinea National Congress wanted member countries to admit them as observers.Through the forum the West Papuan issue could be taken to the UN which had made the original mistake of letting the region go under Indonesian control, he said. "These kind of rallies are going to go on until West Papua is free."
The PNG government is concerned about relations with its powerful Indonesian neighbour and has long been sensitive about the West Papuan issue.
The former Dutch territory became part of Indonesia in 1969 through a UN-supervised Act of Free Choice, widely condemned as a sham when only 1,025 "representatives" were chosen to vote.
There were more than 30,000 West Papuan Melanesian refugees in PNG who had fled Indonesian persecution as Javanese and other migrants poured in under a transmigration scheme, he said.
West Papua had always been an international problem and was not just an "internal" issue for Indonesia as claimed by the PNG government, Tekwie said.
PNG's Foreign Minister Rabbie Namaliu has said questions could be raised when post-forum dialogue partners including Indonesia meet on Friday and Saturday.
Indonesia had granted special autonomy in its troubled province of Aceh and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had undertaken to take a similar approach to West Papua, he said.
That was the right forum for West Papuan activist leaders to take advantage of, Namaliu said.
PNG's Prime Minister Michael Somare also said this week the West Papuan issue would be discussed with the Indonesian president when he visited PNG in December.
The issue was not raised during the forum leaders' meetings, he said. "If there are moves already for some form of self-determination in West Papua, then groups like that could be invited to the meeting."
Beach rally organiser John Mondia said West Papua under Indonesian control posed a terrorist threat and if Australia was concerned about regional security it should use its influence to bring the issue before the UN.