Sarah Smiles – A united front of Papuan leaders has called for crisis talks with Jakarta as human rights abuses escalate in the militarised Indonesian province.

Banding together for the first time, the political leaders have called on the international community to mediate talks similar to those Jakarta held with Aceh in 2005. The West Papua Coalition for National Liberation wants a referendum held on self-determination and an end to Indonesia's military occupation of Papua and "long standing" human rights violations there. It also wants aid groups and journalists to have unrestricted access to the province, which came under Indonesian control in 1963.

Damien Kingsbury, an Indonesian specialist at Deakin University, said the formation of the coalition was historically "very significant" because Papuan groups had traditionally been fragmented. He said the coalition "appears to have very widespread social and political support".

Indonesia has repeatedly played down reports of human rights abuses in Papua. But last year Australia became embroiled in the conflict when it accepted 43 Papuan asylum seekers who landed on Cape York, triggering a diplomatic stoush with Jakarta.

Dr Kingsbury said there needed to be recognition on behalf of Indonesia about the problems in the province, and the proposed talks are a "good opportunity to resolve once and for all the West Papua problem".

In its statement the coalition called on the world to support talks "intended to end more than four decades of suffering by the people of West Papua"