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West Papua, KontraS condemns deployment of 700 troops

Source
Tempo - February 13, 2020

Egi Adyatama, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) deputy coordinator, Feri Kusuma, disapproves of the government's decision in mobilizing additional Indonesian Army troops (TNI AD) to a military district command (Koramil) in West Papua.

Feri argues that this move asserts that the Indonesian government lacks new breakthroughs in helping solve the Papua issue.

"Uninnovative. The government is further establishing its security approach [for Papua]. This old strategy will certainly worsen the condition regarding human rights in Papua," said Feri to Tempo on Wednesday.

Feri argues that the mass mobilization of army troops will do nothing to fix the situation in the region that often heats up. The presence of a new military district command will also intensify local tension.

"What should be done [by the government] is to pull all security troops from Papua and put forth peaceful dialogue," said Feri.

Reported on Wednesday, the Indonesian Army (TNI AD) officially deployed 700 military personnel to fill a number of 'preparation military commands' (Koramil) freshly established in West Papua.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1306959/west-papua-kontras-condemns-deployment-of-700-troops

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