Liselotte Mas – Residents of Papua, the easternmost province of Indonesia, have been fighting for decades to defend their rights and preserve their homeland against business interests, which seek to exploit the terrain for minerals and transform it into vast palm oil plantations.

Jakarta (Antara) – Hasanuddin XIV regional military commander Major General Surawahadi has released 600 TNI (Indonesian military) soldiers to provide security for the construction of the Trans Papua highway.

Jakarta (Antara) – Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Martuani Sormin has stated that there is no military operation in conflict-plagued Nduga district, Papua province.

"Only law enforcement operation code-named operasi Nemangkawi is currently being conducted in the district," he said Friday, March. 1.

Farouk Arnaz & Dion Bisara, Jakarta – Police have named firebrand cleric Ja'far Umar Thalib, former commander of the disbanded Islamist militant organization Laskar Jihad, a suspect in a case of assault in Jayapura, Papua.

Ja'far, who is at the forefront of spreading a puritanical form of Islam in Indonesia, has a long history of involvement in sectarian conflict.

Indonesia's military says the West Papua Liberation Army set fire to a digger owned by a state-owned construction company on Tuesday.

The attack on Istaka Karya's operations in Nduga regency follows the killing of at least 16 of its employees there by the Liberation Army in December. The Liberation Army has claimed the staff were actually Indonesian military in disguise.

A special mission from the World Council of Churches has criticised the ongoing human rights violations by Indonesian security forces in the West Papua region after its five-day visit to Indonesia last week and has called for "more openness" by the authorities.

Yamin Kogoya, Canberra – In the days leading up to Christmas, 16 Indonesian construction workers were killed in Nduga by the West Papuan National Liberation Army.

Lukas Enembe, Governor of Papua, declared through media: "I am asking President Jokowi to withdraw all the troops in Nduga."

A global grouping of Christian churches has found that discrimination and human rights violations in Indonesia's Papua region are as severe as they were two decades ago.

A team from the World Council of Churches wrapped up a week-long trip to Indonesia on Friday, which included visits to several cities in Papua province.

Edho Sinaga, Jayapura – A child and nine West Papua National Committee (KNPB) activists in Merauke were arrested by the Merauke district police on Saturday February 23.

Five-year-old Martina Yawon was arrested as he was walking with nine KNPB members who were wearing the Morning Star (BK) flag logo on their shirts.

This month, the World Council of Churches sent a delegation to West Papua in solidarity with the West Papuan people and to help understand the deteriorating human rights situation in the country.

The West Papua National Committee (KNPB) says nine of its members were questioned by police in Merauke for wearing the Papuan Nationalist emblem.

The KNPB's secretary-general in the southern Papuan city, Yoris Yapo, said a five-year old child accompanying the members was also taken in by police.

Jakarta – Children in Jayawijaya regency, Papua, who have been traumatized after fleeing a recent armed conflict between the Indonesian Army and a rebel group in Nduga regency, are receiving social and psychological assistance from the central government, a senior official at the Social Affairs Ministry confirmed on Saturday.

Jakarta (DPA) – Indonesia on Friday (Feb 22) said action would be taken against officers who used a snake to extract a confession from a suspected thief in the restive province of Papua, after UN experts called for an investigation into the incident.

Pacific Media Watch – The Free West Papua Campaign has welcomed the call by the United Nation's human rights experts for "Prompt and impartial investigations... into numerous cases of alleged killings, unlawful arrests, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of indigenous Papuans by the Indonesian police and military".

A group of UN human rights experts is calling for urgent investigations into alleged killings and other abuses of Papuans by Indonesian police and military.

It follows outcry by human rights advocates at a video circulated online of police using a live snake to interrogate a Papuan man who was arrested for allegedly having stolen a mobile phone.

Jakarta – Papua Regional Police Public Information Head Assistant Superintendent Suryadi Diaz is asking all parties not to dramatise or make a big issue out of the use of a snake during an interrogation of a suspect by police.

Tom Miles, Geneva – United Nations rights experts have urged Indonesia to investigate accusations of violence by police and military in Papua after a video showed officers using a live snake to intimidate a suspect during questioning.

Geneva – Prompt and impartial investigations must be carried out into numerous cases of alleged killings, unlawful arrests, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of indigenous Papuans by the Indonesian police and military in West Papua and Papua provinces, say a group of UN human rights experts.

The Free West Papua Movement, or OPM, has called on the international community to mediate negotiations with Indonesia's government to end conflict in Papua region.

Armed conflict in Papua's Highlands between the OPM's armed wing, the West Papua Liberation Army, and Indonesian security forces has intensified since last year.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students have fled fighting in Indonesia's restive Papua province, a local NGO said, amid unconfirmed reports of violent military reprisals after a massacre of civilian workers by separatist rebels.

Jayapura, Jubi – Two West Papua National Committee (KNPB) activists have been arrested by police in Bitung City, North Sulawesi, for carrying shirts with the Morning Star logo.

A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil, Jakarta – The Jakarta Police have named Papua administration regional secretary Hery Dosinaen a suspect in a case of alleged assault against two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators who were assigned to tail several Papuan officials at a Jakarta hotel early this month.

Evarianus Supar, Timika – A sole judge at the Timika District Court in West Papua, Saiful Amam, has rejected a pre-trail suit by three West Papuan National Committee (KNPB) activists against National Police Chief (Kapolri) Tito Karnavian, Papua Police Chief (Kapolda) Inspector General Martuani Sormin and Mimika District Police Chief (Kapolres) Assistance Superintendent Agung Marlia

Jakarta – Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) researcher Aisah Putri Badriati is surprised that neither presidential candidate raised the issue of West Papua in first presidential debate on January 17.

Indonesian state media is reporting that hundreds of students have fled violence in Papua's central Highlands.

Since December, an increasing number of gun fights have occurred between the West Papua Liberation Army and Indonesian security forces.

Antara News reported the violence had displaced 406 students and more than 80 teachers in Jayawijaya regency.

Jakarta – The Indonesian People's Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) and the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) say that the West Papuan people will not take part in the 2019 presidential and legislative elections.

Jakarta – Thirty-five sacked PT Freeport Indonesia workers, who have been camping out in front of the State Palace for a week, have been forcibly removed by police and are being held at the Metro Jaya regional police headquarters in Jakarta.

A short documentary which highlights the risks of being a journalist in Indonesian-ruled Papua region, or West Papua, has won an international film award.

Aprila, directed by Rohan Radheya, took out the best short film award at the 16th Pacific Fifo Documentary Film Festival in French Polynesia.

Indonesian police have acknowledged officers terrorised a Papuan man with a snake after a video of the incident circulated online showing the man screaming in fear while his interrogator laughed.

Jakarta (Antara) – Some 320 children from Nduga district in Papua province have fled to the neighboring Jayawijaya district along with their parents or on their own, as firefights are ongoing between the armed criminal group and security personnel.

Jakarta – The Papua Police have apologized for wrapping a snake around a native Papuan they suspected of theft.

A video of the incident, which took place while the police were interrogating the suspect, has been circulating online.

A Polish man on trial for treason in Indonesia after meeting with Papuan independence supporters said that visitors to his prison assaulted him and threatened to kill him as guards watched. The development has once again spotlighted the issue of Papua, one of several challenges Jakarta has faced on the democracy and human rights front.

John Martinkus – There is a new war on Australia's doorstep. After 57 years of sporadic fighting, military crackdowns, killings and detentions by the Indonesian authorities against the West Papuans, the Free West Papua Movement (OPM) last week declared war on the Indonesian government.

Jakarta – For exactly four days scores of former PT Freeport Indonesia employees have been camped out opposite the State Palace in Central Jakarta. Sleeping under tents made from tarpaulin, the employees who were sacked by the Freeport gold-and-copper mine in 2017 are sleeping over making use of whatever supplies they have available.

Jakarta – Indonesian authorities should release and drop treason charges against three Papuan activists for peaceful advocacy in the Papua mining town of Timika, Human Rights Watch said today. The Indonesian government is currently imprisoning at least nine people from Papua and the Moluccan Islands for exercising their rights to freedom of expression.

Indonesian corruption investigators have been assaulted while tailing Papua Governor Lukas Enembe.

Indonesian state media reported the two officials were hospitalised prompting an inquiry from Jakarta police.

Jakarta – After gaining control of 51.23 percent shares of gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia, the government is eyeing to gain a 20 percent stake in publicly listed nickel miner PT Vale Indonesia (INCO).

Bangkok – A highway under construction in Indonesia's Papua province is hurting the environment and stoking conflict by threatening indigenous land rights, analysts and activists said.

The Trans Papua highway is part of Indonesian President Joko Widodo's plan to develop the impoverished eastern province, and open up access to its abundant natural resources.

Kizzy Kalsakau and Jason Abel – The Government of Indonesia has criticized Vanuatu for including a West Papuan leader and the United Liberal Movement for the people of West Papua (ULMWP) chairman, Benny Wenda in its delegation to a meeting with U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

The Free West Papua Movement, or OPM, has called for international action on the conflict in Indonesian-ruled Papua

At a rare press conference in neighbouring Papua New Guinea, OPM representatives were joined by PNG civil society groups and two high-profile local MPs pushing for a change in the PNG government's policy on West Papua.

Johnny Blades reports.

The Free West Papua Movement, or OPM, has called for United Nations intervention over conflict in Papua's Nduga regency.

The Highlands regency is the current focal point of armed conflict between Indonesian security forces and the West Papua Liberation Army.

Muhammad Hendartyo, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Marshall Hadi Tjahjanto said that his institution would establish psychological and territorial operations in Papua in a bid to engage the locals to be familiar and have no fear of the TNI officers.

Johnny Blades – Efforts to focus international attention on the West Papua independence cause surged in the past week.

First, a petition claiming to represent the voices of 1.8 million West Papuans calling for decolonisation of Indonesian-ruled Papua was handed to the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, in Geneva.

Ryan Dwiky Anggriawan, Jakarta – The Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) commander, Maj. Gen. I Nyoman Cantasia, commented on the recent attacks by a civilian armed group (KKSB) in Papua. He said the group mainly comprised young criminals seeking attention.

Vanuatu's foreign minister has dismissed criticism from the Indonesian government for including the United Liberation Movement (ULMWP) for West Papua in its meeting with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.

Jakarta – State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno has said the government does not expect big revenue from gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) in the next three years, following a US$3.85 billion divestment deal.

Lin Evlin – Indonesia's Ambassador to the UN, Hasan Kleib, has strongly condemned Vanuatu for helping exiled West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda to meet with UN officials during one of its periodic review meetings.

Victor Mambor, Jayapura – Indonesia has strongly criticized the tiny Pacific island-nation of Vanuatu for including an exiled Papuan separatist leader as a member of its delegation during a meeting in Geneva last week with the U.N. human rights chief.

Yashinta DP, Fardah, Jakarta – The Indonesian Government has sent a note of protest to the Government of Vanuatu for smuggling Papuan separatist Benny Wenda into the South Pacific nation's delegation while meeting the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet Jeria.

Helen Davidson – Indonesia has agreed in principle to allow the UN office of the human rights commissioner into West Papua amid continuing violence in the region.