Tom Allard – Indonesia has stepped up its campaign for Australia to return 43 Papuan asylum seekers, with its new ambassador warning that relations will be strained if they are granted refugee status.

Sydney – Refugees who landed in Australia after a five-day sea voyage had been jailed and tortured in Indonesia, an Australian lawmaker said Friday, as Jakarta's ambassador warned of strained relations if they are granted asylum.

Indonesia's new Ambassador to Canberra says relations between Australia and Indonesia will certainly be affected if Australia grants refugee status to more than 40 asylum seekers from the Indonesian province of Papua.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A dysentery outbreak has killed dozens of local residents in the remote Papuan regency of Puncak Jaya in the past two months, a reverend said Thursday.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Papua People's Council (MRP) is stepping up its opposition to Jakarta's policy to split Papua, saying a recent survey found most people object to the plan.

MRP chairman Agus Alue Alua said The council had conducted a survey to find out what people's views were on the controversial policy to set up the new West Irian Jaya province.

Australians protested around the country last week in solidarity with the 43 West Papuan refugees who have been detained by the federal government on Christmas Island. The protesters called on the government to immediately release the asylum seekers into the community and grant them permanent refugee status in Australia.

Sarah Stephen – One of the passengers aboard the outrigger canoe that landed on Cape York peninsula on January 18 was a five-year-old child.

Kerryn Williams – The arrival on Australian shores of 43 West Papuan refugees on January 18 has put the spotlight on the long suffering – and determined resistance – of the people of West Papua.

Sarah Stephen – Among the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers who were transferred to Christmas Island on January 18 are four family groups. They are living in community detention, under close guard.

Tom Allard – The Indonesian military is using the same tactics of terror in West Papua that were employed during its bloody reign in East Timor, and Australia should step in to mediate a peace settlement, warns separatist Herman Wainggai.

Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – Since his government last year brought about what looks like the end of the separatist conflict in Indonesia's tsunami-wracked Aceh province, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has drawn effusive praise internationally.

Greg Poulgrain – Ten US members of Congress have described the arrival on Australian shores by canoe two weeks ago of 43 asylum seekers from West Papua as a flight to freedom.

West Papuan asylum seekers on Christmas Island have told Greens senator Kerry Nettle their families have been terrorised by Indonesian security forces since their journey to Australia.

Jayapura – A man was arrested by Jayapura Police officers Saturday, allegedly for hoisting the outlawed Morning Star flag, the symbol of the Papuan independence struggle.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta - Around 25 people from the Papuan Anti-Militarism People's Front (FRPAM) arrived at the offices of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) on Jalan Latuharhari in Menteng, Jakarta, at around 11am on Monday January 30.

Australian refugee advocates say they are alarmed by the Indonesian Government making a direct request to Prime Minister John Howard for the return of 43 Papuans.

Indonesian President Suslio Bambang Yudhoyono has assured Mr Howard that the group will not be prosecuted if they are returned.

Russell Skelton – Australia and Indonesia are headed for a diplomatic crisis over the fate of 43 West Papuan asylum seekers whose claims of persecution now appear likely to be recognised.

The Hon John Howard MP
Prime Minister of Australia
C/o Australian High Commission UK
Strand London WC2B 4LA

27 January 2006

Dear Prime Minister Howard,

We write concerning the plight of the 43 men, women and children refugees from West Papua who arrived on the Australian mainland by boat on 18 January.

A group of Papuan asylum seekers being held in immigration detention on Australia's remote Christmas Island is expected to meet their lawyers for the first time this weekend.

Washington, D.C. – The West Papua Advocacy Team at the Robert F.

The Indonesia Human Rights Committee is calling on the Australian Prime Minister and Immigration Minister to release the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers detained on Christmas Island. They should be given protection or bridging visas and their refugee claims should be processed on the Australian mainland with the help of independent legal assistance.

Ivy Susanti, Jakarta – The Indonesian government urged the group of 43 Papuans seeking asylum in Australia to return home, and pledged that there would be no punishment.

Reporter: Hamish Fitzsimmons

Peter Cave: A military build-up in the Indonesian province of Papua has heightened tensions between the Government and independence activists, and is said to have been prompted by the arrival in Australia last week of 43 Papuan asylum seekers.

Senator the Hon Amanda Vanstone
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
Suite MF 40 Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

25 January 2006

Dear Senator Vanstone,

Sarah Stephen – On January 18, 43 West Papuans stepped onto Australian soil at Mapoon on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula. Amazingly, they had traversed 425 kilometres at sea in a 25-metre traditional dugout canoe fitted with an outboard motor. They were flying the West Papuan flag, outlawed by the Indonesian government.

Andra Jackson – A Catholic bishop has warned that Indonesian authorities are "trying to get to" the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers on Christmas Island.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Protesters stormed the Papua legislative council building Monday, demanding Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers be withdrawn from the province.

The protest follows an incident in Wegete, Paniai, on Friday, in which security personnel fired on a crowd of civilians, killing one.

Gunawan Mashar, Makassar - Scores of West Papuan students in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar have also held an action demanding the release of the Timika detainees. As well as giving speeches, the demonstration was accompanied by traditional dances.

Jakarta – About 200 protesters stormed Parliament in Indonesia's restive Papua province on Monday to demand the withdrawal of troops from the region, witnesses said. Calm was restored by nightfall.

Two policemen were injured in the melee in the provincial capital, Jayapura, state news agency Antara reported. Authorities in Jayapura were not available for comment.

Jakarta – Police in Indonesia's Papua on Monday denied allegations that four students were shot dead in a revenge attack linked to a group of separatist refugees fleeing from the province to Australia.

Calls are growing for Australia's immigration department to grant immediate protection visas to 43 Papuan asylum seekers who arrived in far north Australia last week. The group is now being held on Christmas Island, many of them at one of Australia's offshore immigration detention centres.

Nova Maulani, Jakarta - A solidarity action over the Freeport tragedy has ended up at the US Embassy. For one-and-a-half hours around 150 demonstrators gave speeches and held theatrical actions.

Prior to this they held an action at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout and the State Palace.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papua People's Council (MRP) has formed four teams to gauge public opinion in West Irian Jaya about the controversial proposal to form the area into a separate province.

Nova Maulani, Jakarta - Flavours of West Papua dominated a demonstration in Jakarta by people from Indonesia's eastern-most province. They were demanding that police release the eight people that have been cited as carrying out the shooting of US citizens in Timika in 2002.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Relatives of a Papuan protester killed by security authorities in Paniai regency two days ago demanded on Saturday that Trikora Military Commander Maj. Gen. George Toisutta be held responsible for the death, accusing his soldiers of the shooting.

A Papuan man has died and two others are in critical condition after being shot by the Indonesian military yesterday, sparking fears of reprisals in the wake of the arrival of asylum seekers in Australia this week.

The dead man, Moses Douw, is believed to be a close relative of Amatus Douw, one of the 43 Papuan asylum seekers who landed at Cape York on Wednesday.

Andra Jackson and Mark Forbes, Denpasar – Two West Papua school children were shot dead yesterday by Indonesian soldiers, according to a group representing Papuans.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Unidentified security officers opened fire on a group of protesters outside a police station in Paniai regency in restive Papua province on Friday, killing one person and injuring two others, a police spokesman said.

The Federal Government says it has asked Indonesia for official clarification of reports of a shooting in which one person was killed and two injured, in the troubled province of Papua.

Concerns are being raised that the shooting is linked to the arrival in Australia earlier this week of 43 asylum seekers from Papua.

PO Box 15774, Washington, DC 20003

Prime Minister John Howard c/o Embassy of Australia to the United States 1601 Massachusetts Ave, NW Washington, DC 20036-2273

Via facsimile: 202-797-3168

Dear Prime Minister Howard:

Sydney – Refugee activists branded the Australian government cruel Friday for flying a group of 43 Indonesian asylum seekers who accused Jakarta of genocide to a remote island detention center.

The group of 36 adults and seven children from Indonesia's restive West Papua province arrived Wednesday on Australia's remote Cape York Peninsula in a small boat.

Sydney – Refugee activists want the Papuan asylum seekers who landed on the north Queensland coast this week to be brought back from Christmas Island and given bridging visas.

About 100 people gathered outside the Department of Immigration in Sydney today to protest the department's handling of the case.

Jakarta – Indonesia strongly rejected claims by dozens of refugees who fled eastern Papua for Australia this week that the government was perpetrating genocide in their home province.

The Australian Coalition of West Papua Support Groups in Australia call on the Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone to allow the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers to remain in Australia.

Australia is being told to expect more asylum seekers to make their way to the country from Papua.

Forty-three Papuan asylum seekers arrived on Cape York on Wednesday and have been sent to Christmas Island; refugee advocates say the group includes independence campaigners from the Indonesian province.

Port Vila – In the 1960s, the Government of the USA shamefully sold out West Papua as a bribe to Indonesia for its cooperation in halting the spread of communism in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The USA is now trading off West Papua to Indonesia once again in return for its cooperation in the struggle against international terrorism and Islamic extremism.

"The Australian government must respect the rights of the forty West Papuans who have arrived in Cape York. Australia is required to act in accordance with its protection obligations under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees" said John Dowd, President of ICJ Australia.

Jakarta – The National Police will continue to involve the FBI in resolving the 2002 killings of one Indonesian and two American teachers in Timika, Papua – but agents won't be allowed to question the suspects.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – The United States and Indonesia have gotten their man in the ambush killings of two Americans in Papua three years ago. The arrest of Antonius Wamang, an alleged separatist military commander, is supposed to quell speculation that the Indonesian military was behind the shootings.

New York – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. paid Indonesia about US$1 billion since 2004, including for security at the Grasberg mine that has sparked a US government inquiry, Chief Executive Officer Richard Adkerson said.