The West Sepik provincial police commander Sakawar Kasieng yesterday warned people in Vanimo and border villages not to travel to Jayapura in the Papua Province of Indonesia because of current unrest there.

Mr Kasieng said police manning the border post at Wutung had been put on alert as the situation in Jayapura was tense with fully armed Indonesian soldiers conducting intensive checks on motorists at the border and the Jayapura District in search of firearms and offensive weapons following a demonstration last Saturday.

According to unconfirmed reports three civilians in Waena in Jayapura about 80 kilometres from the PNG-Indonesian border were shot dead by the Indonesian military during the demonstration.

Mr Kasieng said the situation across the Papua Province was tense and confirmed in a brief he received yesterday from the PNG Consul General's office in Jayapura. Students had petitioned the Indonesian Government to guarantee autonomy for Papua and not to sub-divide the province, which resulted in the shootings, Mr Kasieng said.

The Indonesian military are monitoring the towns of Jayapura, Abepura and Sentani in search of locals carrying offensive weapons to retaliate.

He said Papua New Guineans should be wary of travelling to those towns in case they were mistaken for Papuans involved in the demonstration. He added that there is a military build up at Scou and Arso near the border on the Indonesian side already and that the PNG Government needed to support the border post with resources to monitor movements and staff the border.

"We are years behind with our monitoring resources comparing to the Indonesians checkpoint base about 500 metres from the PNG border. We need adequate funding to improve the border post immediately," Mr Kasieng said.