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.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Thousands of people fleeing a crackdown on Papuan separatists are now facing food shortages.
The crisis is hitting refugees in Yamo district, Puncak Jaya regency, Papua, after Indonesian Military and police attacks on Free Papua Movement (FPM) rebels in the area.
Jayapura – Four refugees who were among thousands fleeing their village have reportedly died of illness.
The residents fled to Ilamburawi village in Yamo district, Puncak Jaya regency, on Jan. 16 following a security personnel manhunt for rebels who had earlier hoisted a separatist flag on Mount Kimibaga.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – An increasing amount of blood donated at the Jayapura Red Cross' transfusion unit in Papua is being found to be contaminated with HIV, an official said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer must seek answers from Indonesia about reports that one person has been shot dead and thousands of others have been displaced by military and police operations in West Papua, the Australian Greens said today.
Reporter: Jennifer Macey
Emma Alberici: Church leaders in Indonesia's Papua Province are reporting that 5,000 people have been driven from their villages by Indonesian security forces.
The Indonesia Human Rights Committee is calling on the New Zealand Government to offer to facilitate dialogue between West Papuan representatives and the Government of Indonesia. New Zealand should also call on Indonesia to open up West Papua to the entry of human rights monitors and international media.
By S. Eben Kirksey and Andreas Harsono
According to reports from the Puncak Jaya region of West Papua, several thousand extra troops from the Indonesian Army (TNI) have been deployed to the region this month in response to flag-raising incidents and the killing of two army officers on 9 December.
There have been fresh warnings of an Indonesian military build-up in the Punjak Jaya region of Papua province.
The Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman, who heads the Communion of Baptist churches in Papua, holds grave concerns for the civilian population over reports that more troops are moving in amid a recent series of tensions into Bolakme, West of Wamena near Mulia.
Port Moresby – A flag-raising campaign in Indonesian Papua's Highlands could escalate into open conflict between tribal warriors and Indonesian troops, human rights advocates warn.
Free Papua Movement (OPM) activists of the Goliat Tabuni tribes in the Punjak Jaya region have been raising the banned Morning Star flag in acts of defiance against Indonesian rule.
Jayapura – Suspected Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebels on Wednesday seized a rifle from a police officer patrolling near the Kurilik police post, some 300 meters from the town of Mulia in Puncak Jaya.