1) West Papua activists raise profile
2) Fishermen stranded in PNG return home
1) West Papua activists raise profile
Updated 5 February 2013, 20:19 AEST
Activists campaigning for independence for the Indonesian province of Papua are seeking membership to a key political and trade bloc in the Pacific..
Activists campaigning for independence for the Indonesian province of Papua are seeking membership to a key political and trade bloc in the Pacific..
The Secretariat of the Melanesian Spearhead Group has received an application for membership from the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation.
The coalition is made up of activists seeking independence for Papua, an Indonesian province.
A spokesman for the coalition says Papuans are an inseparable part of the Melanesian family.
He hopes membership of the MSG will help efforts to advance the independence cause at the United Nations.
Papua is the western half of an island that includes Papua New Guinea.
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2) Fishermen stranded in PNG return home
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura | Archipelago | Tue, February 05 2013, 10:47 PM
Three Indonesian fishermen from Kampung Hamadi, Jayapura, Papua, returned home on Tuesday after being stranded in waters off Papua New Guinea for five days. The Papuan fishermen – Baba, 19, Nazir, 40, and Thalib, 22 – were rescued by people in Kampung Kauk, East Sepik province, Papua New Guinea.
The three fishermen went to sea on Jan.24 in a 40-horsepower traditional boat. They were preparing to return to Hamadi when 8-meter waves hit their boat. Struggling with the waves for three hours, they lost their way as they buffeted by the sea and their boat ran out of fuel.
“As we ran out of fuel, we unfurled the sail. The main thing we thought about was getting to land,” said Thalib.
After drifting at sea for five days, they saw the shore. Some villagers swam out to them and pulled the boat to shore.
“We only learned that we were in Kampung Kauk, East Sepik province, Papua New Guinea, after we landed on the beach. We were housed in villagers’ houses,” said Thalib.
In Jayapura, families of the fishermen reported them missing to the Papua Cross-borders and Foreign Cooperation Agency (BPKLN). The agency then contacted the RI consulate in Vanimo to seek information about the fate of the missing fishermen and found that they were in Kampung Kauk.
From Kampung Kauk, they were taken to Aitape and then to Vanimo. “From Vanimo, we sent them to Jayapura to meet their families,” said Jahar Gultom, the Indonesian consul general in Vanimo, Sandaun province, Papua New Guinea, in Jayapura on Tuesday. (ebf)
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