[Violence has escalated to Australia's north, in the Indonesian province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya. Over the weekend two American teachers and one Indonesian were shot dead and more than ten others were injured, in an ambush near the giant Freeport gold and copper mine. While it is unclear whether the attack by the unidentified group is connected with the separtist movement in the province, Indonesian officers have already begun reprisals against the rebels, killing one man. But a Papuan human rights advocate, visiting Australia, says he does NOT believe the separatists are responsible.]
Presenter/Interviewer: Peta Donald
Speakers: Stan Harscha, US Embassy in Indonesia; John Rumbiak, leader of Papua's leading human rights group ELSHAM.
Donald: On Saturday afternoon two buses carrying mainly American school teachers and their families came under attack on a mountain road near Timika, the town servicing the world's largest gold and copper mine. Stan Harscha is from the US Embassy in Indonesia.
Stan Harscha: Of the three persons that were killed, two of them were international school teachers from the United States and one of them was an Indonesian school teacher but there were eleven injured, of whom, seven have been medevaced.
Peta Donald: The response from the Indonesian authorities was swift. Sixty police and soldiers hunting for those responsible, one man was killed and another wounded.
No one has claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack, but the local Police Chief has laid the blame squarely at the feet of the Free Papua Movement, OPM, a poorly organised group that's been resisting Indonesian control in the region since the 1960s.
That explanation doesn't sound right to John Rumbiak, from the Papuan human rights group, ELSHAM. He's in Sydney for a meeting about conflict resolution, but for the past three weeks has been talking with key guerrilla leaders in the area of the mine.
John Rumbiak: Most of the guerrilla leaders throughout the entire province are now in a position of reforming peaceful movement for their political demand, so I don't believe that this attack on Freeport employees was done by Kelly Kwalik and his group. I do believe that there were Papuans involving in this. You can easily pay-off anyone if you need money and it's not something that it is rare.
Peta Donald: John Rumbiak believes sections of the Indonesian military were behind Saturday's attack, a claim denied by the military and the police. PT Freeport Indonesia has issued a statement, saying the killers were unidentified assailants, now being pursued by Indonesian security officials. It says it has assurances that the mine facilities and surrounding communities are secure.