Muara Tami – Scores of refugees fleeing feared clashes between separatists and troops in Irian Jaya were Tuesday camped at the Indonesian province's border with Papua New Guinea (PNG).
A senior Indonesian police officer at this border post 75 kilometers from the Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura, said 200 people had arrived since rebels of Irian's Free Papua Movement (OPM) had closed the border on December 1.
"It's not the PNG authorities who have closed the border but the OPM. They are controlling the situation," Captain Bram Tahaime told AFP. Tahaime's subordinates had earlier said that PNG authorities had closed the border.
The captain said the OPM had shut off all border traffic, and that PNG border officials "are waiting for some Indonesian officials to come and resolve the situation."
Families from the Dani tribe, who had been living in the capital of Jayapura, had been arriving at the checkpoint in groups of 30 to 40 since November 29, said corporal Rob Alwi, one of two guards at Muara Tami. "Every day more come. We had a bus carrying 30 turn up this morning ... This has never happened before," Alwi told AFP.
Alwi said there were now 200 refugees spread across three makeshift tent camps, one on the Indonesian side of the border, one in the neutral zone between the two countries and one just over the PNG borderline.
On Monday PNG Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta said his government would respect Indonesian sovereignty over Irian Jaya, despite cultural links to fellow Melanesians living under Jakarta's rule.
Morauta also said PNG had reinforced security along its border following the Indonesian security crackdown against independence supporters over the weekend.
Seven people were killed in the southern Irian Jaya town of Merauke during a riot over the raising of the separatist Morning Star flag, six of them native Papuans shot by Indonesian troops.
"We want to assure the government of Indonesia that while we will do our best, there are certainly likely to be overflows into our side of the border," Morauta said. "We try not to encourage them to come across but we may be forced to provide refugee status."
The refugees told border officials they were trying to avoid "unwanted incidents" in Jayapura around the anniversary of an unrecognized declaration of Papuan nationhood on December 1, 1961, said Muara Tami immigration official Silas Drunyi. "They're all scared and it's not very safe here," Drunyi told AFP.
He said tension was high at the crossing because police pulled down separatist Morning Star flags on Monday. On the declaration anniversary, OPM guerrillas based in PNG crossed the border and raised the Morning Star directly in front of the immigration post.
A blanket ban on the flag ordered by Jakarta took effect on December 2. However police at this deep jungle border post were unable to remove it before Monday because hundreds of tribal West Papuan separatists armed with primitive weapons were guarding it, they said.
"We were totally overwhelmed in strength. There are hardly any police here," Corporal Yulius Rumpampono told AFP. "If we'd pulled it down, they would have gone on a rampage with their bows and arrows." After lengthy negotiations, police removed the flag," he said.
Muara Tami, surrounded by towering jungle, is a four hour-drive from the PNG base of the guerrilla Free Papua Movement (OPM), led by hardline commander Matheus Wenda. Rumpampono said: "It was Matheus Wenda's men here. It was too dangerous for us to take them on."
He added the independence fighters and refugees were disappointed journalists had not seen the Morning Star aloft. Two Indonesian television reporters who approached them on Tuesday morning were beaten up.
Several of the OPM members, dressed in green and black camouflage, strutted round one of the camps, shouting obscentities at the journalists. "Go home, go home, I'll burn you, I'll use a bullet," yelled one of the rebels.