Jakarta – Pro-independence leaders in Irian Jaya and Aceh were unmoved Thursday by President Megawati Sukarnoputri's apology for past suffering inflicted on the restive Indonesian provinces.

Brussels – Two Belgians held hostage for over two months by a separatist group in the Papua New Guinea jungle have been released, the Belgian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Craig Skehan, Nauru – A senior member of the Irian Jayan independence movement who slipped into Nauru for the annual gathering of Pacific island leaders despite an official ban, made an impassioned plea for regional support before being deported.

Jakarta – Australia has urged fellow members of the Pacific Forum not to debate independence for Indonesia's Irian Jaya province at its annual meeting this week, an Indonesian MP said Monday.

Hamish McDonald – A Sydney law professor will head an international study into whether there are grounds for a legal challenge to the incorporation of Western New Guinea into Indonesia in the 1960s.

Widespread police operations have been underway since March this year in the district of Manokwari in the Bird's Head region of West Papua, following armed attacks on two logging companies. In the second of these incidents, five Brimob officers were killed. Retribution against the population has led to many civilian casualties and thousands of villagers fleeing to nearby forests.

Jakarta – The assemblyman for Irian Jaya has warned controversial mining company PT Freeport Indonesia not to interfere in the country's political affairs, including the election of the Mimika regency chief. "The company should only take care of its gold, copper and silver mines, and has no right to take part in the nomination of a Mimika regency head," he stressed.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives' consultative body agreed on Thursday to put forward a controversial special autonomy bill for Irian Jaya proposed by Papuan legislators, but at the same time acknowledged that the government's own bill on the subject would remain the primary reference of the deliberation.

Jayapura – An Irianese separatist group that has taken hostage two Belgian filmmakers is demanding President Abdurrahman Wahid bring the Irian Jaya issues before an international forum, a church official said on Tuesday.

Jakarta – Pro-independence leader Don Flassy has been arrested and is now detained in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province, a justice official said Tuesday.

Jakarta – Irian Jaya leaders renounced on Wednesday the unenthusiastic response by legislators and government officials to a draft bill on special autonomy for the province, arguing that the bill was drawn up within the context of the unitary state.

Jayapura – Five on-duty officers of the Indonesian Police Mobile Brigade were killed in a pre-dawn attack by an unidentified group of people in the village of Wondiwoi, located in the Wasiur district of Manokwari regency, on Wednesday.

Jakarta – A key independence leader in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province told a court trying him for alleged subversion Monday that the province was already independent, his lawyer said.

"Theys Eluay told the court that the state of Papua has existed since December 1, 1961," defence lawyer Anum Siregar, using the locally-preferred name for the province, told AFP.

Jakarta – Security forces in Irian Jaya arrested 16 members of a Papuan separatist movement after an armed clash which injured five people, local police said yesterday.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on Thursday submitted to the Attorney General's Office the names of 25 Irian Jaya police officers who were allegedly responsible for physically abusing and torturing civilians following a mob attack on a police station last year

Agence France Presse in Jayapura – The subversion trials of five high-profile independence leaders from the remote Indonesian province of Irian Jaya opened yesterday amid tight security.

Vaudine England – Theys Eluay is a loud man, in both his wardrobe and choice of political rhetoric. As a self-styled leader of the independence movement among Papuans in Irian Jaya, his career takes a new turn with his trial on subversion charges today.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – A group of Indonesian legislators on Thursday endorsed a proposal that would give rebellious Irian Jaya province more powers including an all-indigenous upper house and a locally-recruited police force.

Jakarta – Rector of the Jayapura Institute of Science and Technology (ISTJ) Tuesday threatened to close down the school following student protests demanding his resignation.

Rector Moh. Ali Kastella said the school might be closed if students continued their protests and threat to kill the lecturers.

Jakarta - A human rights commission has formally accused ten police officials in Irian Jaya are suspected of involvement in human rights abuses that took place after the Abepura incident on December 6 last year.

Jakarta – Police and Irian Jaya's rebels were involved in a shootout Saturday when the rebels attacked a base camp of PT Dharma Mukti Persada logging company in Wonggema village, Wasior district, Manokwari regency. o casualties were reported in the clash, Antara reported.

Jakarta – Police fired warning shots and eventually clashed with pro-independence protesters in the Irian Jaya capital of Jayapura on Wednesday, Antara news agency reported.

The clash started when people boarding eight trucks arrived at the Cendrawasih sports hall on Jl. Ratulangi in Jayapura, where a seminar on special autonomy for Irian Jaya was being held.

Jakarta – The chief of police in the capital of Indonesia's restive Irian Jaya province was quizzed Friday over the deaths of three students in December, a human rights investigator said.

Jakarta – Prosecutors Thursday ordered the temporary release of five political activists facing subversion charges for alleged separatism in Irian Jaya province, lawyers said Thursday.

The move comes a day after Amnesty International condemned Jakarta for jailing dozens of "prisoners of conscience" in an attempt to stamp out separatist movements in several provinces.

Jakarta – House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung ruled out on Monday independence for Irian Jaya, dealing a blow to separatist rebel leader Willem Onde during his visit here.

Akbar suggested that Onde and the people in the province draft a bill on special autonomy for their natural resource-rich territory.

Jayapura – Willem Onde, the leader of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), released on Wednesday afternoon three hostages, including two Koreans, who had been held for 23 days.

Jakarta – Fighting in Indonesia's restive Irian Jaya province killed four soldiers from the country's elite special forces and a separatist rebel, media reports said Sunday. The death toll was the highest since a series of skirmishes in December that killed at least 20 people.

Ben Bohane – The Free Papua Movement's spokesman in Australia, John Otto Oondawami, has outlined a new leadership structure for the guerilla movement following the arrest last week by Papua New Guinea police of one of the OPM's senior commanders, Matthias Wenda.

Jayapura – Willem Onde, leader of the Merauke-based separatist Free Papua Organization (OPM) released on Sunday afternoon 13 of 16 hostages who were abducted by his men on January 16.

Three hostages, including two Korean nationals, were not released as Onde wanted a guarantee that his request to meet with President Abdurrahman Wahid is granted.

Jakarta – Irian Jaya local authorities on Friday stepped up negotiation efforts with separatist rebels to free 16 hostages, including three Koreans, who have been held in the province's jungle-clad Asiki district in Merauke regency since January 16.

Jakarta – Papua New Guinea (PNG) Police have arrested an Irian Jaya separatist leader and 12 rebel members, officials said on Thursday.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels in remote Irian Jaya have seized seven negotiators trying to win the release of 11 abducted plywood workers and now hold 18 people hostage, police said Friday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The kidnapping of 12 hostages, including a South Korean businessman, in Indonesia's troubled Irian Jaya province, is suspected to be a "fake" one, staged to discredit the separatist rebels.

Jakarta – Indonesian police in easternmost Irian Jaya province have questioned four people including a woman cleric over separatist activities, a report said here Tuesday.

Arrested by Indonesian police in Irian Jaya for reporting while on a tourist visa, Swiss journalist Oswald Iten spent 11 days in jail before being deported. This is what he saw from his cell.

Jayapura – Eleven locals from Wamena were still being detained here on Sunday after after they were apprehended on Thursday for carrying sharp weapons.

They were part of a group of 61 people who left their hometown in Arso and Genyem areas of the town of Wamena, about 290 kilometers southwest of here, amid rumors of a clash between security forces and separatist rebels.

Jakarta – At least 500 Irianese are seeking refuge in Papua New Guinea (PNG) due to fear of erupting violence from clashes between rebel groups and the Indonesian security authorities, Antara reported on Saturday.

The people were mostly residents of Jayawijaya, the hinterland of Jayapura, which is located close to the border with the neighboring country.

Jakarta – Just days after Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid vowed to prevent the secession of the country's easternmost province, media reports said Wednesday that rebels in Irian Jaya had captured two members of the security forces.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid has left independence leaders in Indonesia's Irian Jaya province off the schedule of a two-day visit there which started Monday, a member of the pro-independence Papua Presidium said.

Marianne Kearney, Wamena – Mr Yesaya Oagai, sitting cross-legged before a group of men from nearby villages in the lush Baliem valley, wins a chorus of agreement when he holds forth on Indonesia's motivation for developing its most backward province – Irian Jaya, also known as West Papua.

Jakarta – A soldier was mobbed to death in the remote town of Tiom, Irian Jaya, some 80 kilometers south of Wamena, following a dispute between officers and locals over the pulling down of the Morning Star separatist flag, an official said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Independence leaders jailed on subversion charges in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province have vowed to reject any attempt by President Abdurrahman Wahid or police to release them from prison early, a lawyer for the detainees said Thursday.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have returned cash and valuables taken from students during raids in the wake of a separatist attack in the eastern province of Irian Jaya, a rights advocate said Monday.

Agence France Presse in Jakarta – A human rights worker in the troubled Irian Jaya province was arrested yesterday for discrediting police by publicising the killing of three students by police, a fellow activist said.

Sydney – Independence leaders from the Indonesian province of Papua issued a plea in Melbourne on Thursday for the United Nations to intervene in the escalating conflict between separatists and the Indonesian authorities.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Over the past week, Irian Jaya has witnessed two lightning attacks by unknown rebels. One last Thursday on a police station and a regional government office and another on Indonesian logging camps.

Jakarta – Police in Indonesia's troubled Irian Jaya province have arrested five more separatist leaders on suspicion of subversion, their lawyer said yesterday.

The activists, all members of the pro-independence Papuan Presidium Council, are being questioned over a bloody riot in the remote town of Wamena in October, attorney Seth Waramori said.

Jakarta – A 22-year-old migrant student Achmad, who was allegedly kidnapped by the Free Papua Movement (OPM) last Saturday, was found dead and mutilated on Tuesday evening, Antara news agency reported.

Jakarta – The police chief of the restive Indonesian province of Irian Jaya on Tuesday banned the National Liberation Force (TPN), an armed civilian separatist group operating in the remote jungles of the province as subversive.