Several West Papuans are gathering in Cairns this week to lobby Pacific Islands Forum leaders at their annual summit to have Indonesia's Papua region discussed at the Forum.
West Papuan representatives have regularly lobbied Forum leaders to raise the issue of ongoing human rights abuses in Papua with the Indonesian government.
Police have charged five more suspects in a spate of deadly shootings at the Indonesian gold mine of US company Freeport, but the motive for the attacks remains a mystery, officials said Friday.
In a doorstop interview following Friday prayers, National Police Headquarters spokesman Nanan Sukarna said that police had now apprehended five additional suspects.
The federal government is warning of a risk of further violence near the Freeport mine in Indonesia's restive Papua province.
Three people have been killed, including 29-year-old Australian mine technician Drew Grant, and more than a dozen wounded in a series of ambushes near the Grasberg mining complex in recent weeks.
Members of the National Liberation Army of the Free Papua Movement are reported to have raised an independence flag in the border region between Indonesia's Papua Province and Papua New Guinea.
The Indonesian newspaper, Kompas Cyber Media website reports that the group raised a Morning Star Flag and demanded open dialogue regarding Papuan independence.
Christian Motte, Jayapura – The Papua Church Council is investigating the recent spate of violence in the province, especially near the PT Freeport Indonesia mining concession, the head of the council said on Tuesday. It also called for security and law enforcement to halt intimidation, arrests and violence against local residents.
Markus Makur, Timika - Police have named seven suspects, including an employee of mining company PT Freeport Indonesia, for their involvement in a series of shootings in the vicinity of the company's mining concession in Timika, Papua, which killed three people.
Timika – A vehicle carrying medical supplies between Timika and Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Corporation's Grasberg mine, about 3,400 kilometres east of Jakarta, was fired on yesterday morning, reports Tempointeraktif.com. There were no fatalities, the report says.
Fidelis E. Satriastanti – The Papua tribe suing mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia reported what it claims is a series of intimidations by the company to the National Commission on Human Rights, or Komnas HAM, on Friday.
Christian Motte – The Papuan People's Assembly, a body representing the cultural and social rights of Papuans, on Friday urged the police to find those responsible for a recent series of armed attacks at the massive Freeport gold and copper mine in Timika.
Christian Motte & Farouk Arnaz – Another convoy of PT Freeport Indonesia vehicles came under attack in Papua on Wednesday, leaving a Timika Police officer and a local Freeport employee with gunshot wounds at the same place as an Australian was shot and killed in a similar ambush near the Grasberg mining complex on July 11.
Anthony Deutsch, Jakarta – Three more people were wounded by gunfire Wednesday at the world's largest gold mine, the latest ambush targeting employees of US conglomerate Freeport in Indonesia's underdeveloped Papua province.
Christian Motte, Jayapura – The trial of 15 people accused of treason just days before April's legislative elections began on Thursday in Papua's Nabire District Court.
One person was injured in a shooting Wednesday along the embattled road leading to the Freeport gold and copper mine in Papua.
Nurhabri, a deputy spokesman for the Papua Police, said someone opened fire on a bus full of Freeport employees at around 11 a.m. local time. Contrary to early reports, no-one was killed in the attack, he added.
Timika, Papua – Fourteen people have been arrested over a series of deadly ambushes near a Freeport gold and copper mine in Indonesia's Papua province, police said yesterday.
Fourteen local Papuans have been arrested over the series of deadly ambushes near the Freeport mine last weekend.
At least several of them are believed to be members of the Amungme tribe whose lands were expropriated by the Indonesian government to make way for the Freeport operations.
Jayapura, Indonesia – Indonesian police have questioned 12 people in connection with deadly shootings near the giant Grasberg mine in Papua operated by a unit of Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc.
The Australian foreign minister says he's leaving it up to Indonesian authorities to decide whether to take up his country's offer for more assistance to investigate the deadly shootings in Papua.
TAPOL warmly welcomes the decision of the Papuan Amungme Tribal Council to file a lawsuit against the Indonesian Government, the Coordinating Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie and Freeport, the operator of the gold and copper mine, which has been exploiting Papua's natural resources for more than thirty years.
Christian Motte – For the sake of their own safety, thousands of Freeport employees are temporarily forbidden to leave the company's Tembagapura mining site in Papua following a series of fatal shootings, a spokesman said on Saturday.
A Papua human rights activist has dismissed claims by Indonesia's Defence Minister that foreign governments or NGOs could be behind a series of deadly ambushes near the Freeport mine in Papua.
Jakarta – "Foreign countries" could be behind a series of deadly ambushes near a US-owned goldmine in Indonesia's remote Papua province that have killed three people, the defence minister said on Thursday.
Jakarta – The Papua Council Presidium (PDP) has called on the central government to form an independent team to investigate a series of shooting along the road to Freeport Indonesia's Gresberg gold and copper mine in Papua.
Additional police and military forces are being sent to beef up security along a road in Papua that has seen a string of deadly attacks in recent days.
"We have decided to increase enforcement measures to restore security," said National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Sulistyo Ishak on Thursday. He did not disclose how many 'special forces' would be sent.
Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – Indonesia is deploying police special forces to US-based Freeport's gold mine – the world's largest – after a wave of shootings at the remote facility, a police official said Thursday.
Tom Allard, Jakarta – Workers at the Freeport-McMoran gold and copper mine have been ordered to stay at home after another series of shootings on the road where an Australian, Drew Grant, was murdered over the weekend.
Fidelis E. Satriastanti – After feeling exploited and ignored for more than three decades, the Papuan Amungme tribe have filed a lawsuit against the government, Coordinating Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie and the operator of one of the largest mining sites in the world, PT Freeport Indonesia, a lawyer said on Thursday.
New York – The visiting speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly has asked the US government not to support the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM).
Hidayat Nur Wahid, speaking in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, said he had asked the United States to assist Indonesia in developing its democracy without providing support to the OPM.
Anthony Deutsch, Jakarta – Deadly ambushes at the world's largest gold mine likely stem from rivalries between Indonesian police and military forces who compete for millions in illegal profits for protecting the industry, analysts said.
Although the TNI commander Djoko Santoso claims the Free Papua Movement (OPM) was likely behind shooting attacks in West Papua on the weekend, it was reported in the Jakarta Globe (14 July) by Papua's provincial police chief Bagus Ekodanto "that there was no evidence the OPM or anyone else in particular was involved, but noted that the attackers appeared to be well trained".
Dicky Christanto and Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The National Police and the Army have deployed officers to investigate a recent series of attacks in the vicinity of PT Freeport Indnonesia's Grasberg gold and copper mine in Papua.
Geoff Thompson, Jakarta – Papua's police chief has denied bullets were removed from the body of murdered Australian Drew Grant before an autopsy was performed in Jakarta.
Mr Grant, 29, was shot in Papua on a road to the Freeport Mine on Saturday.
Aubrey Belford, Jakarta – A series of killings in the remote highlands of Indonesia's Papua region have thrown a spotlight on the murky history of a massive US-owned mine sitting atop the world's biggest haul of gold.
Jakarta – The Mimika District Legislative Council (DPRD) in Papua Province has condemned the shooting incidents which occurred in an area controlled by US mining company PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) on Sunday (July 11) and Monday (July 12).
Farouk Arnaz, Christian Motte & April Aswadi – Autopsy results show that the victims of the weekend killings near Timika in Papua were shot with 5.56-millimeter caliber weapons. But a police investigator said on Monday that this information would not help determine who the perpetrators might be.
Farouk Arnaz & April Aswadi – While publicly agreeing to cooperate in a joint operation to find the perpetrators of the deadly weekend ambushes near the US miner Freeport McMoRan's complex in Papua, military and police officials publicly disagreed on Tuesday about who was responsible for them.
Some Papuan police sources are blaming the shootings on the Free Papua Movement, but one rebel representatives has denied involvement.
Tony Eastley: It's been a weekend of deadly violence in the troubled Indonesian province of Papua.
On Saturday, a Melbourne man, Drew Grant, was shot to death and yesterday a security guard was killed in the same area. And several members of a police anti-terrorism squad investigating the Australian's murder were injured.
Peter Cave: The death toll from a weekend of violence in Papua has now risen to three.
Police have confirmed that another Freeport mine security guard has been found dead. The body was found roughly 20 kilometres from where 29-year-old Australian Drew Grant was killed on Saturday and where another Freeport guard was shot dead yesterday.
Nurfika Osman – The Armed Forces on Sunday again denied that it was still receiving payments from US mining company Freeport McMoran to provide security around the giant Grasberg mine, which was the scene of two deadly attacks over the weekend.
Jayapura – A security guard employed at the huge Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia's Papua province was shot dead and several police officers wounded in two separate shootings on Sunday, a mine official and police said.
Tom Allard, Jakarta – A Melbourne man has been shot dead near the giant Freeport mine in Indonesia's Papua province in an apparent sniper attack.
Timika – Gunmen using military-issue weapons pre-planned an ambush that killed an Australian mine worker in Indonesia's restive Papua province, police have said.
Jakarta – Security forces arrested three separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) members following a firefight in the district of Anatowai, Yapen, Papua, Saturday afternoon.
The firefight occurred at around 11 am local time, the Indonesian military (TNI) spokesman, Rear Marshal Sagom Tamboen, told Antara.
Jakarta – Security agencies should conduct a professional investigation into the fatal shooting on Saturday of Drew Nicholas Grant, an Australian working for PT Freeport in Papua, a Papuan community figure said.
Jakarta – An Australian worker has been shot dead near the massive Grasberg mine in Indonesia's Papua province run by a unit of Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc, Papua's police chief said on Saturday.
Reports from Indonesia's Papua say continuing clashes with anti-terrorist police in Kapeso of Mamberamo Raya district have left at least four Papuans dead.
The Antara news agency reports that three members of the OPM Free West Papua movement have surrendered to the local police command this week.
Arientha Primanita – The National Police chief said on Wednesday four men had been arrested over attacks on polling stations in Papua's Yapen Waropen and Timika districts on the eve of Wednesday's presidential election.
Papuan independence activists are calling for a mass boycott of tomorrow's Indonesian presidential election.
The vice-president of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, Dr Otto Ondawame, says a sign of opposition, Papuans are advised to hold sit-ins and to pray.
In a letter to the Australian Prime Minister, Australian-West Papuan support groups have called on the Prime Minister to cease all ties between the Australian military and the Indonesian special forces.
The Indonesia Human Rights Committee has written individually to the 16 Pacific Island Heads of Government to urge them to make West Papua a priority for discussion and action at the August Pacific Islands Forum in Cairns.