Nethy Dharma Somba and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta/Jayapura – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu ordered the military in Papua to quell the Free Papua Movement (OPM), which was blamed for a deadly burglary at the Jayawijaya military district arsenal early on Friday.

Jakarta – Suspected rebels trying to steal weapons during a night raid on a military post exchanged fire with government troops early yesterday, killing two soldiers in Indonesia's remote Papua province, the military said.

The gunbattle also killed one man, who villagers later identified as a rebel, said Papuan military chief Brigadier-General Nurdin Zainal.

Jakarta – Gunmen believed to be separatist rebels shot dead two soldiers during an attempt early Friday to steal weapons from a military post in Papua province, the military said.

Surabaya – The team of lawyers for the seven members of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) accused of killing pro-independence Papua figure Dortheys "Theys" Hiyo Eluway, have appealed to judges to be fair in imposing punishment on their clients. One of the lawyers, Mario Bernardo, said he suspected political pressure had led to the trial.

Indonesia has expressed alarm at the opening of a Papuan People's office in Vanuatu.

The Indonesian embassy in Canberra has issued a statement saying it may review diplomatic ties with Vanuatu.

It says it learned from credible sources the office was set up in the capital Port Vila last week. Indonesia has asked the government of Vanuatu for an explanation.

The First Commission of the Papuan Legislative Assembly and human rights activists in Papua have expressed alarm about plans to send one thousand more soldiers to Papua.

Police in the Indonesian province of Papua say the accidental discovery of a cache of illegal explosives has led to fears of covert militia activity in the region. Police say tribal leaders in the coastal town of Sorong, where police have arrested a local businessman and Islamic politician, have raised the concerns.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) would not ask US gold and copper mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia to provide financial contributions to its soldiers.

Alan Boyd, Sydney – A diplomatic offensive by Indonesia appears to have succeeded in bumping West Papua off the global human-rights agenda, and has probably set the stage for a bloody military solution.

The acknowledgement by Freeport McMoran (partly owned by Rio Tinto, the world's largest mining transnational) that it pays money to the armed forces (TNI) for security in its area of operation, confirms suspicions about the close ties between the armed forces and the police and transnational corporations.

Jakarta – Describing their clients as national heroes, attorneys for seven Indonesian soldiers on trial for the killing of a leading politician in independence- minded Papua province, said their clients were innocent and charges against them should be dropped.

Jayapura – Trikora military commander Major-General Mahidin Simbolon had strongly denied rumours (the word he used was 'rumor') that the armed forces has received US$5.6 million from PT. Freeport for guarding the mining company's operations.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Soetarto said on Friday some 600 troops stationed at the Freeport mine in Papua to protect the company's assets receive daily allowances and lunches from the United States-based company.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The head of Indonesia's military, General Endriartono Sutarto, said he "didn't know" that an American mining company last year paid the military about $US5.6 million to protect its mine where 15 people were shot in an ambush.

Jakarta – The US Freeport company paid the Indonesian military (TNI) about US$5.6 million last year to protect employees of its giant copper and gold mine in Papua province, according to a report released Thursday.

Sem Karoba is a student leader and representative of the West Papua Presidium Council (West Papua's alternative to the Indonesian government) who is on his second visit to Ireland, lobbying for international support for his people.

John McBeth, Jakarta – The troubled task of clearing the way to resume limited military cooperation between the United States and Indonesia now lies in the hands of agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Jayapura – A crowd of some 100 students demonstrated on Monday before the provincial legislature against Jakarta's move to split Papua into three provinces, arguing it would attract more migrants to the natural resources-rich, yet sparely populated region.

John Martinkus – Forty kilometres from the Papuan capital of Jayapura, its border with PNG has become a no-go area for Indonesian police and human rights workers – and home to Kopassus-run training camps for Laskar Jihad Islamic militants and Papuan militia.

Craig Skehan – Despite its natural splendours, cultural diversity and tragic history of decolonisation gone awry, Papua has not loomed large in world or regional affairs. But that's about to change. Papua has the potential to become as explosive an issue between Australia and Indonesia as East Timor.

Surabaya – Indonesian prosecutors demanded on Wednesday a two- and-a-half-year jail term for the highest-ranking special forces soldier on trial for the murder of a top Papua independence leader in 2001.

Seven members of the army's elite Kopassus force are on trial over the killing of Theys Eluay, an advocate of separation from Indonesia through peaceful means.

Martin Flanagan – Human rights advocate John Rumbiak fled Papua a year ago. Local police had warned him that his investigation into the assassination of Papuan independence leader Theys Eluay in November 2001 had put his life in danger.

John Martinkus, Jayapura – The border between the Indonesian province of Papua and Papua New Guinea has become a no-go area for Indonesian police and human rights workers, according to human rights and independence groups.

Iggy Kim, Sydney – The Indonesian government's decision to divide West Papua into three provinces is a further attack by Jakarta on the Papuan people's right to self-determination, West Papua Institute for Human Rights supervisor John Rumbiak told a February 20 forum organised by the Uniting Church and the Australia-West Papua Association.

Jakarta – A leading US newspaper, The Washington Post, on Tuesday said it had found "no substantiation" to one of its reports published last year that implicated senior Indonesian military officers in plans for an attack in Papua, AFP reported.

The paper printed a statement on an inside page, following a settlement with lawyers for the military in Jakarta.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military has withdrawn from Papua province a special forces unit, some of whose members are on trial for the murder of a pro-independence leader there.

Kanis Dursin, Jayapura – The decision to split up Papua into three provinces has eroded what little trust the Papuans had developed toward the government since the implementation of the special autonomy law on January 1, 2002.

Jakarta – Lawyers for the Indonesian armed forces said Monday they have agreed to settle their dispute with the Washington Post over a report that implicated senior officers in plans for an attack in Papua province.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Trying to ease the mounting controversy over its decision to split Papua into three provinces, the government is said to be seeking a formula to ensure fair revenues from exploitation of natural resources in Papua.

Linda Mottram: A West Papuan human rights campaigner says that ongoing unrest in the Indonesian province is being caused by the violently radical Islamic group, Laskar Jihad, which was thought to have been disbanded.

Port Vila – On Tuesday, 18 February, approximately 1300 non-Papuans traveled in convoy from Abepura to Jayapura in support of the recent presidential decree ordering the partition of Papua. Before leaving, the group gathered in front of the District Office in Abepura and, seeing an anti-partition crowd of about 100 Papuans, they began to heckle and abuse them.

John Martinkus, Jakarta – On December 28 last year a car carrying the wife and daughter of a prominent Papuan human rights activist was ambushed by unidentified gunmen between the border posts of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

Timothy Mapes, Jakarta – Just as Indonesia is beginning to bring its most serious armed rebellion under control, separatist tension is flaring again in another province that is home to several of the country's most promising new foreign investments.

Denpasar – Dozens of students and youths from Papua held a street rally in front of Bali's provincial legislative compound on Monday to oppose the government decision to split up the province into three.

They argued that the division would trigger horizontal and vertical conflicts in the country's easternmost province.

Simon Elegant – Patricia Spier was heading home from a mountaintop picnic in Indonesia's eastern province of Papua when the ambush began. Out of nowhere, a hail of automatic-weapon fire perforated the two Toyota Land Cruisers in which the American schoolteacher and a group of her colleagues and husband were traveling in.

Jim Buckell – Pressure from the Indonesian Government has forced RMIT University to withdraw official support for a conference on West Papuan independence scheduled for later this month.

The Free Papua Movement's representative in Vanuatu, Andy Ayamiseba, says the Indonesian plan to split Papua province into three is aimed at crushing the independence movement.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Kanis Dursin, Jayapura – The Papua Legislative Council (Papua DPRD) rejected on Monday the government decision to split up the province into three provinces and vowed to file a judicial review with the Supreme Court against a presidential decree endorsing the establishment of the provinces of Central and West Irian Jaya.

Jakarta – About one thousand students from various universities in the Papua capital of Jayapura held a rally Monday to protest the government's decision to divide the province into three, Antara reported.

Jakarta – Indonesia has decided to go ahead with its decision to divide the easternmost Papua province into three smaller provinces in the face of objections from local officials and religious leaders who have warned the move may spark unrest.

Jakarta – In the first public admission that the military was behind the killing of Papuan independence leader Theys Eluay, an Indonesian army officer told a court martial yesterday that one of his men strangled the politician.

The Indonesian military has indicated for the first time that it was involved in the murder of Papuan pro-independence leader, Theys Eluay 14 months ago.

Jakarta – The Indonesian army announced Tuesday that it will replace its commander in Papua province amid allegations his troops killed two US teachers and a prominent politician.

Sri Jegarajah, Jakarta – The United States embassy in Jakarta has denied a New York Times report alleging Indonesian soldiers killed two US teachers last August, saying such a conclusion was premature because investigations were still continuing.

Washington – Indonesian soldiers were the ones who carried out a deadly ambush that killed two American teachers returning from a picnic last summer, senior Bush administration officials told the New York Times.

Jakarta – Papua New Guinea (PNG) has reportedly expelled members of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) from its territory after setting a January 19 deadline to do so, Antara has reported.

Jakarta – The government threatened on Wednesday to end diplomatic ties with the Republic of Vanuatu if the country continued to support the Free Papua Organization (OPM) in its struggle to separate from Indonesia, Antara reported.

Raymond Bonner – Bush administration officials have determined that Indonesian soldiers carried out a deadly ambush that killed two American teachers returning from a picnic in a remote area of Indonesia last August, senior administration officials say.

Ainur R. Sophiaan, Surabaya – Five witnesses testified in court here on Monday that they had never seen any of seven soldiers charged with murdering Papuan separatist leader Theys Hiyo Eluay two years ago.

Ainur Sophiaan, Surabaya – The panel of judges trying seven of the Army Special Forces (Kopassus) personnel charged with killing Papuan proindependence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay rejected on Friday a demand by the defendants' lawyers to drop the case.