Ira Guslina Sufa, Jakarta – Newly elected Papua governor elected on January 29 Lucas Enembe believes that adding military troops in Papua will not solve the security issues in the area.

Local communities around Sinak, Gurage, Mulia and Tingginambut in Puncak Jaya regency have felt the first effects of Indonesian military reprisals, after West Papuan independence guerrillas under General Goliat Tabuni confirmed that they had killed eight Indonesian special forces soldiers and four non-Papuan civilians on February 21 in two separate incidents.

Robert Isidorus, Jayapura – The National Liberation Army of the Free Papua Movement, led by Goliath Tabuni, said it had no interest in money or power and that it was purely fighting to achieve an independent Papua.

"We want to be fully independent," Anton Lego Obet Tabuni, secretary general of the organization known as TPN-OPM, told Suara Pembaruan in a phone call.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The Regional Representatives Council (DPD) has strongly urged the government to cease military operations and withdraw special forces from Papua and West Papua to end the prolonged violence in the country's easternmost provinces.

Yeremia Sukoyo, Carlos Paath & Anastasia Winanti Riesardhy – A member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has officially apologized to the Indonesian Military (TNI) for a controversial remark he made about the recent killing of eight military officers in Puncak Jaya, Papua.

Yeremia, Carlos Paath & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Newly elected Papuan Governor Lukas Enembe says he will form a special team to resolve conflicts and violence in the province as soon as he is inaugurated.

SP/Carlos Paath & Anastasia Winanti Riesardhy – The Indonesian military has demanded a public apology from the commissioner of the country's human rights watchdog, who on Friday made an insensitive remark about the recent murder of eight soldiers and four civilians in Puncak Jaya, Papua.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Papua – Paniai police apprehended two members of the Free Papua Organization (OPM) led by John Yogi, after a tip off from locals on the Paniai Lake.

Margareth S. Aritonang and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta – The deaths of eight soldiers, who were shot by unidentified perpetrators in Papua last week, may have been due to negligence on the part of the local military command in the area.

SP/Roberth Vanwi & SP/Carlos Paath, Jayapura – The two armed attacks in Puncak Jaya that left eight soldiers and four civilians dead last week were linked to the local district elections, Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian said over the weekend.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jayapura/Jakarta – The shooting deaths of eight soldiers and four civilians in Papua on Thursday may be connected to the province's recent gubernatorial election, according to the police.

The United States condemned the deadly series of shootings on Thursday that left eight soldiers dead in Papua.

The Australia West Papua Association is concerned that local people in the areas where the attacks against the Indonesian military occurred will suffer as security operations are conducted in the hunt for the perpetrators of the attacks. The attacks occurred in Sinak and Tingginambut in the Puncak Jaya District

AWPA notes that

Jakarta – The Ambassador of Australia to Indonesia, Greg Moriarty, has expressed condolences following the deaths of eight soldiers in shooting incidents in Papua on Thursday.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Ezra Sihite – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says the national government will use a welfare-based approach rather than a military one to keep the peace in Papua after a deadly series of shootings on Thursday left eight soldiers dead.

Bagus BT Saragih and Nethy Darma Somba, Jakarta/Jayapura – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered the country's security forces to refrain from conducting excessive security operations in Papua following shootings that left eight soldiers and four civilians dead in the restive region.

Pemalang – Economic and social gap is the root cause of persistent security problem in Papua, Velix Wanggai, a special staff of the president on regional autonomy, said.

Farouk Arnaz – A military helicopter that was on its way to evacuate the remains of the eight soldiers who were shot dead in Papua's Puncak Jaya district, was forced to return back to its base after an armed group attacked them in the air on Friday morning.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-025-2013

Dear friends,

UA: 48/13 Index: ASA 21/005/2013

Two Indonesian men now arbitrarily detained in Jayapura, Papua province, are believed to have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated by police.

AHRC-PRL-005-2013

Hong Kong/Jakarta – The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has released the video of interview with two Papuans who were tortured by the Indonesian Police. The video is available on AHRC's YouTube Channel on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMI1HouWMv4.

Banjir Ambarita – Three more soldiers have been killed, after an unidentified group exchanged gunfire with soldiers in Papua's Puncak Jaya district on Thursday, bringing the total number of casualties to eight.

The three soldiers were identified as Private Edi, Private Jojo and Private Idris.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-024-2013

Dear friends,

Farouk Arnaz – Police said on Thursday that Papua was calm and peaceful a day after the local electoral commission named Lukas Enembe and Klemen Tinal as the province's governor and deputy governor.

"Thank God, everything is secure," said Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian, the Papua Police chief.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Yet again the streets of Papua were left bloody after another violent incident occurred at Kampung Pugo, East Paniai district, Paniai regency on Thursday. The victim was identified as Warigan, 48, an ojek (local motorcycle taxi) driver.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully will not meet a West Papuan freedom fighter who was refused a public forum at Parliament.

Michael Bachelard – AIDS was slow to arrive in the remote central highlands of the Indonesian province of Papua. It was not until 1996 that eight people tested positive in Wamena, the region's capital. By that time, the world had been dealing with this deadly disease for a decade. And yet, in Papua, precisely nothing happened.

Jayapura – The Indonesian Navy is to enhance the monitoring on maritime defense by establish Navy Primary Base in Papua region.

"We will establish the twelfth Indonesian Navy Primary Base in Sorong, Papua," said the Fifth Primary Base Commander of Jayapura Brigade General Putu Wijamahaadi here on Friday.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta – Violence remains rampant in Papua as two civilians were attacked by unidentified people in two different areas.

The body of Yerson Wonorengga, 22, was found in the Skyland River, Jayapura, on Friday morning with an open wound on the waist. It is alleged Wonorengga was a victim of a brawl between two groups in Skyland on Thursday evening.

Farouk Arnaz – Police in Indonesia's restive Papua province are searching for a man who shot a motorcycle driver in the neck on Thursday in Tigi Timur, in the district of Paniai.

Ed McWilliams – In a December 5, 2012 lecture at Stanford University's International Policy Studies program (revised January 22, 2013), the respected Southeast Asia analyst Sidney Jones discussed the Indonesian government's unwillingness, thus far, to categorize the Papuan "ethno-nationalists/separatists" as "terrorists." Jones

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Tolikara Legislative Council member Husia Yosia Karoba was beaten to death by a mob at a polling station as Papuans elected a governor on Tuesday.

Some non-government and community groups in Vanuatu remain opposed to the Melanesia Spearhead Group's acceptance of Indonesia as an observer.

The MSG this week marks its 25th anniversary organised by its secretariat in Port Vila. Two years ago, the MSG agreed to grant Jakarta observer status despite protests from many West Papuans who are Melanesians.

Ricky Binihi – If the Melanesian Spearhead Group is the brainchild of the late Father Walter Lini then how appropriate it would be to grant West Papua its MSG Observer Status when the people of Melanesia commemorate the MSG Silver Jubilee today.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Rendi A. Witular, Jayapura, Papua – Papua's "mountain people" who reside in the alpine terrain of the isolated pegunungan tengah area, are the largest population group in country's most backward province.

Banjir Ambarita – Papua Armed Forces Chief Maj. Gen. Christian Zebua said on Monday that they have learned of plans to disrupt the provincial gubernatorial polls this week.

Farouk Arnaz & Banjir Ambarita – While cold, hard cash is typically the preferred medium of exchange for kidnappers the world over, an armed group in Papua has given new meaning to the phrase "bringing home the bacon."

The Australia West Papua Association congratulates the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) on the official launching of its Silver Jubilee celebrations in Port Vila on the 28 January. We also congratulate the MSG on its past successes and on it's increasing importance around the Pacific region.

A group that had crossed the Papuan border to join the Free Papua Movement (OPM) led by Daniel Kogoya in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have handed over three firearms to the Cenderawasih Military Command chief Maj. Gen. Christian Sebua at the Muara Tami district office in Jayapura.

Banjir Ambarita & Camelia Pasandaran – Jayapura/Jakarta. Indonesian authorities have announced the surrender of more than 200 members of the Free Papua Organization (OPM), but human rights activists aired doubts about the claim.

Papuan civilians around Timika have again been made wary of military provocations that may potentially revive a bloody horizontal conflict, after a former Freeport mine worker's mutilated body was found in a roadside trench on January 19.

[Lecture by Sidney Jones at International Policy Studies program of Stanford University, 5 December 2012, as amended 22 January 2013.]

Herman Wainggai – It is likely that most US citizens who consider themselves informed about global events are aware of the genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia and East Timor, yet it's likely that few people in the US are aware of the ongoing genocide in West Papua, New Guinea.

A January 19 demonstration of over 500 people asserting Papuan rights to freedom of expression defied a police ban on gatherings in the remote town of Oksibil, in the Pegunungan Bintang (Star Mountains) Regency, close to the Papua New Guinea border.

Buchtar Tabuni, the Chairman of the pro-independence National Parliament of West Papua, was released unexpectedly from Abepura prison around 12pm West Papua time today, to a waiting group of about fifty of his supporters from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), according to multiple sources.

Kendari, S.E. Sulawesi – A member of the Southeast Sulawesi regional legislative assembly described, alleged butchering of fishermen in Papua by members of TNI (Indonesian National Military) as despicable and immoral.

Well over 1000 people engaged in a colourful and vibrant demonstration calling for West Papuan independence on Manokwari on January 17, despite Indonesian police banning the march and the display of the Morning Star Papuan Independence flag.

Banjir Ambarita, Jayawijaya, Papua – At least eight people were injured and dozens of vehicles were set on fire after a campaign event in Jayawijaya, Papua, turned violent on Friday.

Brooke Baskin – A Melbourne pensioner charged with planning to travel to West Papua as a mercenary fighting against the Indonesian government had his matter briefly heard in the Brisbane Magistrate Court on Friday.

Gerard Michael Little, 45, was remanded in custody following his arrest at Brisbane International Airport on December 4.

PFF, Rarotonga, Cook Islands – Killing, beating, abducting and jailing journalists in West Papua remains the most immediate issue in regional affairs, states the Pacific Freedom Forum.

Wrapping up its fourth year of advocacy, PFF chairs said that ongoing suppression of freedom of expression under Indonesian rule often involves violence against news media.