Port Vila, Vanuatu – West Papua National Coalition for Liberation expressed disappointment that its application to become observer of the Melanesian Spearhead Group was not granted. The Coalition was encouraged by the initiative taken by Vanuatu's Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade on behalf of the Vanuatu Government by putting the case on the agenda.

Step Vaessen, Papua – While much of Indonesia has moved on to become a vibrant democracy, the province of Papua in the far east of the archipelago has been left behind.

Suharto, Indonesia's former strongman president, stepped down 10 years ago, but the legacy of his often harsh rule continues to be felt here.

Ratu Epeli Nailatikau – The push by Vanuatu to have West Papuans granted observer status at the Melanesian Spearhead Group is being blocked by Papua New Guinea.

Speaking at the MSG Foreign Ministers' meeting in Port Vila, PNG's Foreign Minister Sam Abal says his country will not allow Indonesia's Papua region to be an MSG matter.

A report emerging from Indonesia's Papua region claims a Papuan man was forced to rape his fiancee by 8 Indonesian Navy marines in Jayapura.

The Elsham Human Rights group in Papua says the incident has been detailed in a report from a church group.

Greenpeace says that without good governance, Indonesia's plans to utilise millions more hectares in its Papua region are unlikely to be sustainably managed.

Indonesia's agriculture ministry says that since Sumatra and Kalimantan have become too dense for new palm oil plantations, the only land available is in Papua.

Jakarta – The government of Indonesia, the world's largest palm oil producer, is now looking at its vast easternmost provinces in Papua to expand its palm oil plantations, a senior official said Wednesday.

Chaz Muth, Washington – Indigenous residents of Indonesia's Irian Jaya region suffer a multitude of injustices, from rape and murder to the pilfering of riches extracted from their island, said representatives of an Indonesian Catholic diocese.

The Australia West Papua Association has called on the leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group to grant observer status to West Papuans at their upcoming meeting in Vanuatu.

The Association's spokesman Joe Collins says granting the Melanesian people of Indonesia's Papua region observer status would be in accordance with a founding principle of the MSG.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The controversial Morning Star flag has again created tension between the central government and Papuans, who are now at loggerheads over the province's proposed flag.

It is the duty of the State security forces to anticipate any expression of any aspiration for independence or any rejection of special autonomy which has shown greater development now as the separatist movement has crystalised within the community leading to a demand to separate from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.

The Hon Stephen Smith MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2600

4 May 2008

Dear Mr Smith,

45 years ago on the 1st May 1963, the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) transferred responsibility for West New Guinea to Indonesia.

Extract: Official complicity

For the full report, see: http://www.eia-international.org/files/reports93-1.pdf

Companies involved in timber theft from Papua are aided every step of the way by officials from the military, police and forestry department, as long as the requisite bribe is paid.

The West Papua National Coalition of Liberation says Indonesia can point to little in the way of progress in the Papua region since its occupation in 1963.

West Papuan activists around the world are using May 1st, the 45th anniversary of Indonesia's occupation of West Papua, to renew their call for international dialogue on Papuan self-determination.

The British-based Free West Papua Campaign plans to deliver a Petition to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown to mark May 1st, the 45th anniversary of Indonesia's occupation of West Papua.

The petition is calling on the British government to push for dialogue on West Papuan self-determination in the international community.

Port Moresby – The leaders representing 29 West Papuan political and civil society organisations have formalized the establishment of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation [WPNCL]. This coalition represents the 1.5 million West Papuan people from over 600 tribal communities on the western half of the island of New Guinea.

Reporter: Jeff Waters

Mark Colvin: There are growing fears for a group of ethnic Melanesian students in Indonesia who've been jailed for allegedly raising a banned flag during a peaceful protest.

Supporters of the group, from Indonesia's West Papua Province, say the prisoners have been charged with subversion, and are being mistreated in jail.

Rofiqi Hasan, Denpasar – Scores of West Papuan students from the United West Papua Popular Struggle Front (Pepera) demonstrated today on the Udayana University campus in the Balinese provincial capital of Denpasar. They were protesting against special autonomy for West Papua and calling for a referendum to be held.

Jayapura – Some 300 fully armed personal from the Indonesian military (TNI) and the national police (Polri) intercepted three trucks of protesters in the Arso Tujuh area bordering on the Keerom regency and the Jayapura city who were planning to demonstrate in Jayapura today.

A demonstration involving about 500 West Papuan people was reported to have occurred in Abepura today.

Large numbers of Brimob (Para-military police) and Military were visible in and around the Jayapura and also the rural districts of Deparpre, Dempta and Genyem this morning.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Fifty tribal leaders from Merauke, Boven Digoel, Asmat and Mappi have demanded the Papua people's assembly (MRP) soon process the proposed development of the four regencies into a new province separate from Papua.

Papuan Survivors need to build their own force to seek justice for themselves, so that they can become upholders of the truth even though the State still refuses to acknowledge their existence. However, the many documents available and testimonies of the survivors will be witness to their sufferings.

An activist for the Free West Papua Movement has expressed concern over the treatment of Papuans detained by Indonesian police over a series of demonstrations last month.

Nick Chesterfield says at least 70 Papuans have been detained for their involvement in the demonstrations against Special Autonomy status in main towns across the Papua region.

Raymond Sat – The Minister of foreign affairs and external trade, Hon. George A. Wells, has assured West Papua leaders now in Port Vila he planned to raise the issue of West Papuan independence struggle during the forthcoming Melanesian Spearhead Groups leader's summit in the Vanuatu capital in May.

Vanuatu's Minister of Foreign Affairs has vowed to push the issue of West Papuan self-determination at next months Melanesian Spearhead Group meeting in Port Vila.

George Wells has met with West Papuan leaders who were in Vila this week for a major meeting of the West Papua National Coalition of Liberation.

A summit of Papuan leaders and NGOs underway in Vanuatu has settled on a new unified leadership for their self-determination efforts.

Representatives from 28 Papuan political groups and NGOs have been in Port Vila under the umbrella of the recently-established West Papua National Coalition for Liberation.

Fabio Scarpello, Jakarta – A coalition of 30 international human rights organisations has warned that a new US$6 billion gas project could worsen the security situation in Papua, the troubled Indonesian region that has recently experienced a rise in tensions.

Jayapura – The Organisation for Solidarity with the Victims of Human Rights in Papua, along with the Community of Survivors of the Abepura case and the League of Families of the Disappeared, IKOHI, have called on the government, Komnas Ham and the Attorney-General's Office to take speedy action to bring to a conclusion the case of the Wamena Tragedy and the Bloody Wasior Incident.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – In the first-ever informal meeting with the leadership of Regional Representatives Council (DPD) at the presidential office here Friday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his concern over the social unrest in Papua and simultaneously his commitment to address the prolonged issue.

Damien Kingsbury – Entering its tenth year since the fall of the authoritarian President Suharto, Indonesia has progressed towards consolidating its democratic system, respecting rule of law and resolving ethnic grievances.

Amid increasing concern about Indonesia's harsh treatment of peaceful protestors in West Papua, more than 30 human rights groups and individuals worldwide are warning BP that its new $US6 billion Tangguh natural gas project is a potential source of instability in the troubled region [1].

Jayapura – A majority of Papuan people still consume rain and river water since 70 percent of villages in the provinces have no clean water facilities.

Head of the irrigation section at the provincial public works agency Yusuf Yambe said 2,900 of the province's 3,300 villages lacked clean water facilities.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A delegation of West Papua politicians has blamed Jakarta for the stagnation of special autonomy in Papua and West Papua, saying the two provinces could not properly implement autonomy without guidance from the central government.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A delegation of Papuan politicians has called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to appoint a special envoy to improve Papua's image in the international world.

The British Foreign Office has urged the Indonesian government and all Papuan groups to engage in a peaceful dialogue.

In its Human Rights Report 2007 launched this week, the Foreign Office says while peace was being maintained in Aceh, Indonesia continues to experience low level conflict in Papua.

Jakarta – The international environmental activist group Greenpeace called for Jakarta to strongly support the maintenance of Papua's log export ban despite recent logging industry pressure to loosen the regulation.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Lilian Budianto, Jayapura/Jakarta – Protesters from the Papua Students and Youths National Front (FNMPP) took to the streets again Tuesday demanding the Papua legislative council hold a referendum on the perceived government failure to implement special autonomy.

One teenage student is in hospital in a serious condition after being shot in the stomach when Indonesian security forces went on a shooting rampage against local people in the Paniai Lakes region of West Papua two weeks ago. The human rights violation coincides with the visit of Indonesian Defence Minister Sudarsono who is in Australia to attend the East Asia Dialogue Forum.

Dear Prime Minister

Markus Makur, Timika – As much as 80 percent of Papua's population of about 2 million lives in destitution, despite the natural wealth of the province, according to an official in the Papua provincial administration.

Thaha al Hamid, secretary-general of the PDP (Papuan Presidium Council) has called on the MPR, the DPRP and the provincial administration of West Papua to stop talking all the time about PP77, the presidential decree about regional symbols.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
US State Department
2201 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Rice,

Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono in Australia AWPA Calls on the Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon to raise the human rights situation and the behavior of the Indonesian military in West Papua with the Indonesia's Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono

According to latest reports from West Papua, more than a dozen Papuans have been arrested for taking part in peacefully unfurling their flag, the Morning Star (Kejora), some or all of whom are likely to be charged for rebellion (makar).

Indonesian police have sought assistance from New Zealand police to implement improved community policing in the Papua region. They are also looking to recruit about 1,500 more Papuans into their ranks as part of the initiative.

A group of Papuan leaders have written to a British newspaper outlining a list of grievances with the operations of British Petroleum at the Tangguh gasfield in their part of Indonesia.

The Guardian reports that the Papuan leaders requested anonymity in their claim that BP has reneged on its agreements over the 7-billion US dollar natural gas plant project at Bintuni Bay.

London – The Indonesian government should order the immediate release of nine Papua activists arrested for displaying the Papuan Morning Star flag, Human Rights Watch said today. All charges against them should be dropped.

When BP set out to build a £3.5 billion natural gas plant in remote West Papua, local villagers hoped for a bright future. But all is not well.

The New Zealand-based Indonesia Human Rights Committee says it continues to be deeply concerned about the human rights situation in West Papua.

It has written to the New Zealand foreign minister, Winston Peters, asking the government to suspend all defence training ties with Indonesia.

Rt Hon Winston Peters,
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Parliament Buildings,

Wellington 18 March, 2008

Dear Winston Peters,

The Indonesia Human Rights Committee continues to be deeply concerned about the human rights situation in West Papua.