The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has written to the Indonesian Government demanding the removal of the ban on foreign media in West Papua immediately.

Andra Jackson – The leader of the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers on Christmas Island has made a direct appeal to the Australian public for protection.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have finished their investigation into eight suspects accused in the 2002 slayings of two American teachers in Papua province and handed over their charge sheets to prosecutors, a spokesman said Friday.

Ratna Nuraini, Jakarta – TNI (Indonesian military) chief General Endriartono Sutarto has revealed that there has been no increase in security disturbances in Papua. This is based on a study conducted by the TNI.

Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – PT Freeport Indonesia should increase the revenue it shares with the government from its Papua mines amid lucrative prices of copper and gold, Vice President Jusuf Kalla says.

Peter Short, Perth – "The voice of West Papua must be heard, it has been silenced for 45 years", West Papua solidarity activist Ned Byrne told a crowd of 140 people who packed into Fremantle's Kulcha venue on January 31.

Sarah Stephen – Greens Senator Kerry Nettle received a warm welcome when she finally managed to get to Christmas Island on January 28-30 to visit the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers and a family of West Timorese being held there.

Paul Kingsnorth – "Tomorrow," said Galile, "I will take you to the Bird of Paradise. We know where they live. You will hear them, and maybe see them too. They are very beautiful."

Indonesia has ramped up pressure on the Howard government not to grant asylum to 43 Papuan boat people, with a senior minister denying that human rights abuses are systemic in the troubled province.

Jakarta – Indonesia will maintain a ban on foreign media reporting from its easternmost province of Papua to prevent an escalation of tension in the restive region, Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said Monday.

Nancy-Amelia Collins, Jakarta – The Indonesian defense minister has acknowledged that some military and police personnel have committed rights abuses in the eastern province of Papua. He says, however, any abuses are not part of a systematic policy.

Greg Roberts – The number of people crossing illegally from the Indonesian province of West Papua into Australia may be much greater than was thought.

Jakarta – Indonesia on Sunday challenged Australia to prove that 43 boat people from troubled Papua province seeking asylum from Canberra are really fleeing persecution.

"It lays on the Australian government to prove that they are really being persecuted," said Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda. "The ball is in the Australians' court."

Yogyakarta- Dozens of students from West Papua demonstrated at the intersection in front of the Yogyakarta central post office on Friday February 3.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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,

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.