Jakarta – The US Embassy in Jakarta said Monday that Washington didn't support "independence for Papua or any other part of Indonesia."

It said it had sent an embassy officer to a congress held by Papua nationalists as an observer in line with standard diplomatic practice.

"We find expressions of concern about the presence of foreign diplomats at public gatherings unusual, especially given Indonesia's admirable progress toward an open democratic system," it said.

In recent days, fears on an anti-Indonesian backlash have grown in the province among thousands of settlers from other parts of the nation. Indonesia annexed West Papua, which covered the western half of New Guinea, in 1963.

The act was formalized by the UN in 1969 following a vote by indigenous community leaders. Independence activists now say that process of self-determination was a sham and should be overturned by the world body.

Free Papua Movement rebels have been battling Indonesian forces in a cat-and-mouse guerrilla campaign for almost three decades.