Jakarta – Mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia will resume operations in its open-pit with government permission after being idle for more than a month following a fatal tunnel collapse.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has allowed the United States-based gold and copper producer to resume production only in the open-pit and to commence milling in Papua.
The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation says the decision by the Melanesian Spearhead Group to retain its application for MSG membership is a major boost to efforts to bring the West Papua issue into the United Nations.
Issues of decolonisation and self-determination took centre stage at the just-completed 19th Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders Summit in New Caledonia.
For the summit's hosts and incoming chair of the MSG, New Caledonia's FLNKS movement, the gathering was a strong endorsement of their preparation for possible independence from France.
The Melanesian Spearhead Group says it "fully supports" the right of West Papuans to self determination.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Sean Dorney, Pacific correspondent for the Australia Network
Eoin Blackwell, Papua New Guinea – Papua New Guinea's opposition has launched a broadside against Prime Minister Peter O'Neill over his government's recent signing of an extradition treaty with Indonesia.
Opposition leader Belden Namah says the treaty will be used to expel thousands of West Papuans who have crossed the 760km land border into PNG to escape Indonesian rule.
Presidential Regulation (Perpres) 40 of 2013, a new order issued by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to "Build Roads to Faciltate the Expansion of Development in Papua and West Papua Provinces", has been greeted with opposition and concern by the Papuan people.
Godwin Ligo – Oceania Decolonization Committee (ODC) president Shem Rarua said Vanuatu leaders compromising the nation's stand on West Papua with the rest of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) members at the 19th MSG Leaders' Summit is "disappointing".
Hipolitus Yolisandy Ringgi Wangge & Agustinus Kambuaya – The Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka or OPM) has opened an office in the city of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Efforts to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in the Indonesian provinces of Papua, which has among the country's highest rates of infection, and West Papua are making steady though slow progress, say aid workers and government officials.
The leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group have signed off on a communique at the end of their meeting, raising issues of alleged human rights abuses in the Indonesian Province of West Papua.
They also accepted an invitation from Indonesia for a ministerial team from the organisation to visit the province.
Noumea, New Caledonia – Another group has emerged claiming to legitimately represent the people of West Papua are lobbying for recognition at the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Leaders Summit, currently underway in Noumea.
Jacob Rumbiak, who is responsible for foreign affairs for the Federal Republic of West Papua, says his group represents the majority on West Papua.
Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has invited foreign ministers from Melanesian nations grouped under the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to Jakarta to receive briefings on development in Papua and West Papua provinces, a move that could be seen as a campaign to obtain international support for the country's sovereignty over its easternmost region.
Farouk Arnaz – Papua Police have named another two suspects over the burning down of a police station in the east of the restive province, bringing the total to eight suspects, police said.
"There are two more suspects, they are KS, also known as Keli, and MHK," Sr. Cmr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya, a Papua Police spokesman, told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.
A man in Indonesia's Papua province says he is currently on the run from the military after witnessing a massacre of Papuans reported last month.
Several reports emerged in May of a slaughter of 40 people in the remote area of Tingginambut, close to the Puncak Jaya mountain, but so far very little evidence has emerged.
Farouk Arnaz – Police in Papua have arrested 14 people following Sunday's attack on a police district headquarters in Pegunungan Bintang, a police official said on Wednesday.
Jennifer Robinson – As the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) prepares to consider West Papua's application for membership, it is important for member states to consider international law relevant to West Papua.
Banjir Ambarita – Dozens of people vandalized Freeport facilities and looted ore concentrate at the copper and gold giant's mining district in Mimika, Papua, on Sunday.
Witnesses said that around 70 people came to the mining area, looting and vandalizing cars and a security post.
It has been recommended that a bid by the Free West Papua movement to join regional Pacific body the Melanesian Spearhead Group to been deferred by at least six months.
The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) brings together the leaders of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, along with New Caledonia's indigenous political movement FLNKS.
Carlos Paath – The Mimika Regency government in Papua has asked the central government to push forward talks with Freeport Indonesia in order to speed up the reopening of the company's Grasberg mine.
Farouk Arnaz & Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – High ranking police officers and reinforcements arrived at the Papuan highland town of Oksibil on Monday following an arson attack on the Pengunungan Bintang district police station.
Serui – Following a number of violent incidents that have occurred in Yapen Island, the security forces have conduced sweepings along the coast and in Kanawa Kampung to see whether the OPM was involved.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The situation in Tembagapura mile 74, a Freeport Indonesia mining area, is reported to be quiet again after incidents of property damage perpetrated by a mob at 7:30 p.m. local time on Sunday.
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – A mob armed with machetes and arrows stormed a police district headquarters in Pegunungan Bintang, setting the building and several vehicles ablaze after claims that police beat an intoxicated man set-off a wave of anti-police sentiment in this conflict-prone region.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill is planning to discuss the topics of trade, border security and extradition during his three-day visit to Indonesia over the weekend, a report from Port Moresby said on Friday.
PT Freeport Indonesia workers called off a strike planned for today that would have halted maintenance at the world's biggest copper mine, after the company suspended officials held responsible for an accident, according to a union official.
A journalist in Indonesia's Papua province says yesterday's student rally was forcibly broken up by police who are currently searching for the organiser.
Police started dispersing the 50 rallying students at Cendrawasih University in Waena when they blocked the entrance. The police also violently arrested the leader of the Papua National Parliament, Buchtar Tabuni.
Damien McElroy – Benny Wenda, a 38-year-old exile from the Pacific territory of West Papua, has recently opened an office on the Cowley Road for his campaign seeking independence for the Indonesian-run half of the island of New Guinea.
A demonstration by dozens of students from Cenderawasih University calling for West Papua to become a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group was forced to disperse by the police on the grounds that they did not have a permit to demonstrate. Moreover, they were flying the Kejora – Morning Star flag.
Jayapura – The former chairman of the KNPB (National Committee of West Papua), Buchtar Tabuni, has been released after being interrogated by the police. It was reported earlier that he had been arrested by units of the police in Jayapura.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Papua – The police forcibly dispersed a student mass rally held in front of Cendrawasih University campus in Waena, Jayapura, Papua province, on Wednesday.
The decision was made after the rally blocked off the only access route into the campus, thus disrupting studying activities.
Please find attached the West Papuan community's response to Foreign Minister Bob Carr's comments at the Senate Estimates, that the West Papuan Independence Movement is "a cruel deceit" by "self-indulgent people".
For all media inquiries, please contact: Ronny Kareni West Papuan Independence at Rize of the Morning Star campaign 0401222177
Regards,
The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation says its participation at the Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders Summit next week will help elevate the status of its cause.
Papuan independence activists in Vanuatu say membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group would be a major breakthrough in its fight for independence from Indonesia.
Jayapura – In response to the decision of the government of Papua New Guinea to reject a request by the OPM to open an office in Port Moresby, the Director of Baptist Voice-Papua, Mathius Murib, said that OPM offices have been opened in a number of places around the world, including an office in Oxford, the United Kingdom, as well as in Indonesia.
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura, Papua – State-owned energy company Pertamina says it does not know how a low-ranking police officer in Papua who is accused of fuel smuggling and illegal logging could have ended up with 1 million liters of subsidized fuel.
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – A man was murdered on Thursday after he allegedly refused to join the Free Papua Organization (OPM), police said.
Australia's Foreign Minister has accused people who advocate self-determination rights of West Papuans of misleading the indigenous people of Indonesia's Papua region.
Bob Carr made the comment during a Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee hearing on his government's response to ongoing human rights abuses in West Papua.
AWPA has written to Senator Carr about the possibility of another crackdown by the security forces on rallies called by the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) for the 10 June.
Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
PO Box 28
Spit Junction NSW 2088
6 June 2013
Senator the Hon Bob Carr
Minister for Foreign Affairs Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Fax: 6261 3111
Copy to Senator Richard Di Natale
Fax: 6277 5957
Dear Senator Carr,
Australian Greens Senator, Dr Richard Di Natale, has condemned the Australian Foreign Minister's comments in Senate Estimates where he blamed the escalating tensions in West Papua on the international human rights movement.
New Caledonia's pro-independence FLNKS Movement has officially invited West Papua to attend this month's Melanesian Spearhead Group summit in Noumea.
At the summit, MSG leaders are expected to decide on a formal membership bid by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation.
Camelia Pasandaran – Political prisoners held at Papua's Abepura Prison rejected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's offer to grant them clemency as part of the Home Affairs Ministry's proposed "special autonomy plus" program for the restive region.
Arya Dipa, Bandung – Members of the Papuan Students Alliance (AMP) studying in West Java staged a rally on Monday demanding the United Nations hold a referendum on Papua.
Chairman of AMP's central committee, Rinto Kogoya, said a referendum was the best solution for prosperity.
Rangga Prakoso – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold reported another death at its Grasberg mine in Papua on Sunday after a worker was seriously injured while conducting maintenance on an underground tunnel, a company official said.
London – Two human rights lawyers from West Papua, Olga Hamadi and Gustaf Kawer, are today being honoured at a ceremony for the Lawyers for Lawyers Award in Amsterdam. An expert jury placed them third on the shortlist for the Award won by Russian human lawyer, Magamed Abubakarov.
The secretary of the KNPB – National Committee for West Papua – Ones Suhuniap has said that the governor of Papua, the chief of police and the commander of XVII Cenderawasih Military Command must all be held responsible for the mysterious killings that occurred in Puncak Jaya during the month of April.
Bagus BT Saragih and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta, Jayapura – Frightened by a series of reports of missing persons in the past few weeks, several residents of Puncak Jaya, Papua, have left their homes to go to other cities or hide in the forests, officials say.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papua provincial administration and the central government will revise Law No. 21/2001 on Papua Special Autonomy and deliberate the Papua Administration Law, says a presidential special staff member.
Bagus BT Saragih and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta, Jayapura – Dozens of Papuan convicts, many of them pro-independence activists who were sentenced to jail for treason, have rejected the proposal for their release under a government clemency or amnesty program, alleging that the move was only part of the government's efforts to silence their voice.
Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – In what could been seen as damage control from a money-laundering scandal, Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian has dismissed Raja Ampat Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Taufik Irfan.