3) Two More Suspects Named Over Papua Police Attack
4)
Sentani Lake festival kicks off in Papua
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Posted at 05:21 on 20 June, 2013 UTC
A man in Indonesia’s Papua province says he is currently on the run from the military after witnessing a massacre of Papuans reported last month.
Several reports emerged in May of a slaughter of 40 people in the remote area of Tingginambut, close to the Puncak Jaya mountain, but so far very little evidence has emerged.
The witness says he hid up in the mountain for weeks after seeing the military kill people in villages in anger after not being able to find a wanted Papuan activist.
He says police know about the incident but haven’t taken any action.
He spoke to Alex Perrottet.
MAN: The people were killed, about 40 people, 40 people killed. And we found them in different places.
ALEX PERROTTET: And have you yourself seen the bodies, have you?
MAN: Yeah we found the bodies. Some of them under the bridge, they kill and then they throw next to the bridge, and then some of them under the rock. And we found in different places.
AP: What did you do with the bodies when you found them?
MAN: We tried to, want to burn them, but army, heavy army, they tried looking for us and now we are hide in the jungle.
AP: And do you know the victims, the people who were killed, do you know some of them personally?
MAN: Yes and I have their names and also their picture.
AP: And is anyone going to go back and try to get the bodies or not?
MAN: Yes, but for today no.
AP: Have you told the police?
MAN: Yeah, but I can’t go to the city. In Wamena it’s OK, but here it’s a little bit... They are looking for us and they already know us and I try to kind of hiding.
AP: Do you know whether any police know about this?
MAN: Yeah, police knows. Police know about this, but they just leave.
AP: How do you know that the military killed the 40 people? Did you see them do it?
MAN: Yeah. We were together, the victims we were together. And then they just go and then kill the people, they murdered them. And then we ran and climbed and went up to the mountain.
AP: You were hiding and watching, were you?
MAN: Yeah, I was hiding and watching them and I took some photos and also some video.
AP: And how did you feel?
MAN: I almost died, because I feel scared and because my friends, some they killed. We were together, we eat food together and they were killed by the military. And now I’m very upset and I’m trying to get free, free to live, but I am hiding in the jungle and I am not free.
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Posted at 07:00 on 20 June, 2013 UTC
A former Papua New Guinea prime minister, Sir Michael Somare, says granting West Papuan membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group must be done on the basis that it is a Melanesian community and not because it is a sovereign independent state.
Sir Michael made the comment in New Caledonia where the MSG passed the leadership to the FLNKS Movement.
Sir Michael says a not too dissimilar arrangement can be found in the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation where Taiwan and Hong Kong, regarded by many as part of China, participate in development with independent sovereign states.
He says if West Papua eventually becomes a member of the MSG, it will serve as the venue for both Indonesia and West Papua to dialogue and regularly brief MSG countries on developments in West Papua.
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Papua Police have named another two suspects over the burning down of a police station in the east of the restive province, bringing the total to eight suspects, police said.
“There are two more suspects, they are KS, also known as Keli, and MHK,” Sr. Cmr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya, a Papua Police spokesman, told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.
Police said the attack on the station in Pegunungan Bintang Police District had cost Rp 28.692 billion.
Both KS and MHK have been charged under Criminal Code Article 170 for mob violence and Article 187 for arson. KS was also charged under Article 36 on theft, while MHK was also charged with Article 160 for provoking a civil disturbance.
“He [allegedly] asked people to attack the police district,” Sumerta said.
Police confiscated darts found in the Pegunungan Bintang Police District that were used to shoot the police and a kerosene drum used to burn down the station.
The previous six suspects are the alleged ringleader Yakop Alia, as well as Agus Yamsen, Yesayas Taplo, Emanuel Kalakmabin, Wilem Awolmabin and Katakala Alex Bamulki.
As reported on Sunday and Monday, a mob armed with machetes and arrows rounded on a police district headquarters in Pegunungan Bintang on Sunday, setting the building and several vehicles ablaze after claims police beat an intoxicated man crystallized anti-police sentiment into violent dissent.
The catalyst for the incident was understood to be four police officers arriving at Dabolding village at 8 a.m. to deal with three allegedly intoxicated men. What followed was not clear, but police say one man tried to take a police officer’s rifle and the officer responded by beating him before the man fled.
Rumors soon spread of the incident and the momentum led to the attack on the police station. Three vehicles and 25 motorcycles were destroyed by fire, with nine police officers, one army officer and two civilians said to be injured.
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