As leaders of churches in West Papua who are concerned about all aspects of our people's life, we are deeply concerned that the Special Autonomy which should have brought solutions to the Papuan people's problems, has, in fact, failed.

Jakarta – The government is not serious enough in settling human right violations in the country in general, in Papua in particular, a human rights observer said.

"The government has yet to show a sincere intention to settle a number of human right violation cases in Papua," human rights observer Jayadi Damanik said here Thursday.

The West Papuan representative in Vanuatu, Dr Otto Ondawame has raised concern over a recent incident in Port Moresby claiming the PNG government was allegedly working in collaboration with the Indonesian Embassy in PNG and pro-special autonomy groups led by France Albert Yoku to force the West Papuan refugees in 9-Mile refugee camp to repatriate to West Papua.

Pius Nimaepa inhaled his clove cigarette smoke deeply when Tempo visited him at the end of March. The 60-year-old Ayuka tribal chief sat cross-legged on a wooden chair under a tree in front of his house in Ayuka village, Mimika Timur Jauh district, Mimika regency, Papua.

First to the Indonesian province of Papua, where police armed with water canon and M16 rifles are occupying a Jayapura church at the centre of a dispute over the synod's independence.

Indonesian Police are maintaining control of the Kingmi Synod Church office in the capital of Papua province, Jayapura. Earlier today police arrested dozens of Papuans who were among up to five hundred Kingmi Church members protesting in front of the office.

Jayapura – The Regional Military Commander of 172/PWY of Papua, Colonel Kav Burhanudin Siagian stated that the main enemies of the state are those who have enjoyed the nation's facilities, but who still do actions against the stability of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. Traitors like them are the ones that must be destroyed.

[Merdeka: Artists from around the world unit in support of the independence movement in West Papua. Dancing Turtle Records, 2007. Only available from . Reviewed by Vannessa Hearman.]

Seby Sambom – The West Papua Highland Student Association is continuing its call for dialogue with the Indonesian government about Papua province's special autonomy status.

1,500 people took part in a student-led demonstration for Papuan self-determination outside the Provincial Parliament in Jayapura late last month.

A series of demonstrations in Indonesia's Papua province in the past week have called for an end to Special Autonomy, saying it hasn't worked.

Thousands of Papuan students attended two peaceful demonstrations, outside the provincial parliament capital Jayapura last Thursday, and then Tuesday at Manokwari, the second administrative centre in Papua.

Jakarta – More than 1,500 students on Friday gathered in front of the governors palace in Jayapura, the capital of the Indonesian province of Papua, demanding an end to the province's special autonomy status, which they say does not work.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The government has issued a regulation officially renaming West Irian Jaya province to West Papua province, a political decision that may not automatically settle the prolonged dispute over the new province's existence.

John Pakage, Timika – Thousands of workers at Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg mine in Indonesia have ended a four-day walkout over welfare that had sent copper prices to seven-month highs, the head of a workers' group said on Saturday.

The mine on the island of Papua produces more than 500,000 metric tons of copper annually and is Indonesia's biggest source of tax revenue.

Jakarta – Thousands of mine workers in Indonesia's remote Papua province protested for a third day Friday as marathon talks with US firm Freeport McMoRan over pay and benefits showed signs of progress.

"We have reached agreement on several of the main issues," said Betty Ibo from the West Papuan Workers Union involved in the discussions.

Jakarta – Production at a giant US-run mine in Indonesia's remote Papua province has been slashed to 20 percent due to a protest by thousands of workers, a government minister said Thursday.

Jakarta – Lawyers of the six convicted murderers of PT Freeport Indonesia's employees Thursday submitted appeal documents to the Supreme Court over those sentences by lower courts.

Evidence of Indonesian military involvement in the deaths of two American citizens has been suppressed, according to a report released today by Joyo Indonesian News Service and Pantau Foundation.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta – Papuan Muslims will hold an inaugural three-day congress in Jayapura beginning Tuesday, which is slated to attract 260 participants from 29 regencies and mayoralties in Papua and West Irian Jaya.

Congress steering committee member Sayid Fadhal Alhamid said the Papua Muslim Solidarity group was established on Nov. 21, 1999, in Jayapura.

Jakarta, The level of confidence of Papuan civil society towards the central government has declined as the result of a number of basic problems. despite the fact that improving confidence in the central government represents the most important aspect in achieving reconciliation.

[Reluctant Indonesians: Australia, Papua and the future of West Papua By Clinton Fernandes Scribe, $22.]

David Costello – The issue is on the backburner now but West Papua will inevitably blow up again and drag relations between Australia and Indonesia into crisis.

Yermias Ignatius Degei – Papuan students in Java and Bali who are members of Front Persatuan Perjuangan Rakyat Papua Barat (F-PEPERA-PB) or The United struggle front of West Papuan People held protest in front of the Netherlands embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday (5/4).

Governments of this country come and go but torture and human rights violations continue in many parts of Indonesia. In particular, the Papuan people have been the victims of various acts of terror, arrest, kidnapping and death, ever since the 1960s.

Jayapura – After announcing the creation of Partai Kebangkitan Rakyat Papua (Papuan People's Awakening Party) on 8 March 2007 as a local political party, steps are being taken to complete the draft of a constitution and articles of association, to be used until the party holds its first congress.

Cath Hart – A foreign policy expert has warned the Government that relations with Indonesia would be damaged if Australia ratified the Lombok Treaty without clarifying Jakarta's expectations.

Fabio Scarpello – The Reverend Socrates Sofyan Yoman is a soft-spoken man. But his voice turns firm when asked what is the way forward for Papua, the region where he lives and where most locals have been demanding independence for nearly four decades.

The Cultural Institute of the Papua People's Council or MRP in Indonesia says it fully supports the formation of Papua's first local political party, the Papua People's Awakening Party.

The MRP's Vice Chairwoman, Hanna Wikoyabi, says the movement that led to the new party's establishment could lift the indigenous Papua people's esteem and dignity.

Markus Makur, Timika – Hundreds of job-seekers from the Amungme and Kamoro tribes staged a rally in front of the Memangkawai Mining Institute office in Mimika regency, Papua, demanding that they be given priority for employment in local projects.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Police are attempting to persuade two quarreling tribes in Yoparu village, Paniai, Papua, to end their bloody clash, in which nine people have been killed and dozens of others wounded.

Jayapura – The future of nature conservation water catchment areas in the Papuan cities of Jayapura and Sentani is under threat from rampant illegal logging.

4,330 people have illegally settled in the conservation areas – known as Cycloop – thanks to lax government control.

By Jim Elmslie with Peter King and Jake Lynch. A report prepared for the West Papua Project at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Sydney.

Executive Summary

Rohan Pearce – February 23 marked the deadline for submissions to the federal parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCT) on the new Australia-Indonesia "security" pact.

On a visit to London this week, Peneas Lokbere, a young West Papuan who survived the Abepura killings in 2000, said that many of the survivors are still suffering from the after effects of that incident, physically or psychologically.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – A forum of intellectuals, community representatives and politicians asked the central government Thursday to postpone the planned revision of the 2001 Papuan Special Autonomy law, despite acknowledging that special autonomy has yet to be fully implemented in Papua.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – An international human rights watchdog has accused the Indonesian government of detaining Papuan activists for their political views.

Ed Davies, Jakarta – Indonesia is continuing to arrest and hand down heavy prison sentences to activists in Papua for peacefully supporting independence in the remote eastern area, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Manokwari – Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu and West Papua Governor Abraham (Bram) O. Atururi signed an agreement here Tuesday to settle their differences, the first cooperative move by the two leaders since they were installed six months ago.

Church leaders in Papua say as many as 5,300 people have been displaced because of fighting between Free Papua Movement Rebels and Indonesian military. The leaders say the people are starving and in need of medical attention. But local authorities are accusing Papua's clergy of lying.

Presenter/Interviewer: Katie Hamann

Jakarta – Indonesia needs to speed up development in the eastern area of Papua, a remote part the country where a low-level armed rebellion has simmered for decades, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Friday.

An Australian millionaire is preparing to run television ads across Southeast Asia urging Jakarta to let human rights monitors into the Indonesian province of Papua.

Presenter/Interviewer: Graeme Dobell

Speakers: Australian millionaire businessman Ian Melrose; Papua activist Clemens Runawery.

Kate Corbett, Canberra – An Australian businessman has funnelled thousands of dollars into a TV advertising campaign attacking Prime Minister John Howard accusing him of ignoring human rights abuses in Papua.

This is the second commercial funded by optical store millionaire Ian Melrose on the plight of Papuans. His first was released last month.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The government will speed up development in the provinces of Papua and West Papua after an assessment found both still lacking in terms of infrastructure and economy, a senior minister said Wednesday.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Merauke – Papuans must not be sidelined in the possible establishment of an autonomous South Papua province, but should benefit from it as stipulated in the 2001 special autonomy law for Papua, a member of the Papua People's Assembly (MRP) says.

Jakarta – Police and soldiers opened fire on each other Tuesday in Indonesia's Papua province, leaving one officer dead, a police spokesman said.

The incident – the latest in series of clashes around the country between the two underpaid and poorly disciplined forces – took place in the highland town of Mulia, spokesman Kartono Wangsadisastra said.

Neles Tebay, Jayapura – Indigenous Papuans are supposed to be enjoying a peaceful life in Papua province. However, their experiences under Indonesian rule create a different impression.

At times they are forced to live as strangers or foreigners, even in their own ancestral land.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Representatives of four regencies in southern Papua met with the provincial legislative council Friday to demand the establishment of a South Papua province.

Six West Papuan Student activists from the Student and Civil Society Coalition Concerned about Human Rights in Papua (Koalisi Mahasiswa dan Masyarakat Peduli HAM di Papua) were arrested, detained and later released by Indonesian Police during a demonstration of about 60 people outside the front of the Provincial Parliament in Jayapura on Tuesday 6 February 2007.

Honolulu – Peace is possible in Indonesia's troubled eastern province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya. But, according to a recently published East-West Center Washington Policy Studies, getting there will entail journeying down a different road than that recently traveled in the successful search for peace in Aceh, another unsettled Indonesian province.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The name of West Irian Jaya will be changed to West Papua to match the preferences of local people, the provincial government announced Tuesday.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The government will deploy a team of local officials to Yamo, Puncak Jaya, Papua, Monday to encourage thousands of people fleeing a crackdown on separatists to return home.

Around 2,000 people moved from the Yamo river to the center of Yamo district following military and police attacks on Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebels in the area.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – The Indonesia Military was urged Wednesday to be softer in its handling of the separatist movement in Papua as the threat the movement posed was minimal and lacking in significant external support.