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1) Papua Man Injured in Police Shootout
September 25, 2012
A man accused of extorting motorists on Jayapura’s Trans Papua Road was shot by police after a brief firefight on Tuesday, police said. September 25, 2012
Kristian Songgonau allegedly set up a blockade along Trans Papua Road with several other men on Tuesday. The group was demanding payment from motorists to continue driving down the road — which links several provinces in Papua.
“Every vehicle that [was] heading to the gold mining site Topo was asked for money,” Papua Police spokesman I Gede Sumerta Jaya said. “If they did not give them money, the vehicles were banned from continuing their way.”
Nabire Police responded to reports of an illegal toll station. The men opened fire and fled into the woods, Sumerta said.
Police shot back, wounding Kristian, he said.
“During [the] exchange of fire, a member of the armed group was shot in the thigh has been hospitalized in Nabire hospital,” Sumerta said.
The other men disappeared into the woods.
Traffic returned to normal after the brief exchange, Sumerta said.
“The situation is under control,” he said, “Traffic flow has returned to normal again.”
Suara Pembaruan
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Posted at 01:56 on 25 September, 2012 UTC
Activists and rights campaigners have called on Indonesia’s President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to use his visit to Papua next month to initiate a dialogue with all members of the Papuan community.
The Jakarta Post reports an activist with the Papuan Peace Network, Theo Hesegem, saying the only way to end the violence in Papua is to hold a comprehensive dialogue.
He says this would need to include all stakeholders such as businesspeople, local administrations, indigenous communities and rebel group members.
Mr Hesegem says it is high time the government embraced the Free Papua Movement, or OPM, in a dialogue for peace.
He says it is corruption that is destroying Papua, not the OPM, which has been condemned as a separatist organisation.
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