Jerry Omona, Jayapura, Indonesia – A rebel commander in the Indonesian province of Papua on Tuesday denied involvement in an ambush that killed four people, as tensions rose ahead of a pro-independence rally.
Lambert Pekikir, the Free Papua Movement (OPM) commander in Keerom district outside the provincial capital where the incident took place Monday, said the separatists fighting for independence would not randomly kill their own people.
Indonesian police were quick to blame the rebels for the attack, saying a Morning Star independence flag had been found planted in the ground nearby.
"I strongly condemn those allegations, they're false," Pekikir told AFP by phone from an unknown location. "The OPM wasn't responsible for the shooting as there's been an order from our headquarters to lay down our arms."
The unidentified attackers blocked a road near the provincial capital Jayapura, opened fire on passing vehicles and then attacked the shocked passengers with machetes, police said. An army officer and three others were killed, while seven were injured.
The attack came a day ahead of a planned protest in Jayapura to call for an independence referendum. Security was tight but hundreds of people were on the streets despite the soaring tensions, human rights activists said.
The allegations and denials are typical of the murky security environment in Papua, a remote but resource-rich territory on the western half of New Guinea island that has been ruled by Indonesia since the 1960s.
Indigenous Melanesian rebels often armed with little more than bows and arrows are fighting a low-intensity insurgency against Indonesian rule to end what they say is the oppression and exploitation of their people.
The Indonesian military has long been accused of serious human rights abuses against Papuan civilians, as well as massive corruption in the form of protection rackets for mining operations and illegal logging.
"When there's a shooting, that's certainly committed by the military, if not the police. They're using OPM as a scapegoat by pushing the blame on us," Pekikir said.
"All this is business for the military. When civilians are killed, there will be a lot of money flowing from the central government to Jayapura to maintain peace and security. There will be more military efforts to ensure security at the border, for instance. Certain groups may accuse us of the shooting, but Papuans will never believe it. Papuans trust the OPM."
The allegations are difficult to confirm because foreign journalists and rights workers are banned from entering the province to report on such issues, despite Indonesia's assurances that the rebels' claims are baseless.
In further political violence, clashes between supporters of rival candidates for district elections killed 17 people in a remote village hundreds of kilometres (miles) to the southwest of Jayapura on Sunday. Police said the unrest in Puncak district was not related to the shootings near Jayapura.
Police were reportedly out in force on the streets of Jayapura ahead of Tuesday's protests, which coincide with a meeting of international lawyers, politicians and tribal leaders in Oxford, England, to examine the Papua issue.
The Road To Freedom conference, chaired by British MP Andrew Smith, will review the 1969 Act of Free Choice by which Indonesia took control of Papua. Many Papuans argue to this day that the vote was a sham.
"All the legal experts from around the world could come together to look at the legal argument," exiled Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda said according to Radio New Zealand International.