1) Fighting Drags On in Papua’s Mulia
Subdistrict as Residents Suffer Effects
2)Residents
in Papua fear being on streets after shootings
3)
Four deaths in fire fight in Indonesia's Papua province
4)
WEST PAPUA: Greens call for end to 'aid that kills' after media report
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http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/fighting-drags-on-in-papuas-mulia-subdistrict-as-residents-suffer-effects/
1) Fighting Drags On in Papua’s Mulia Subdistrict as Residents Suffer Effects
Jayapura. Local residents in the Mulia subdistrict of Puncak Jaya, Papua, have yet to resume their normal activities due to an ongoing firefight in the area between forces from the Indonesian Military, or TNI, and members of the separatist Free Papua Organization, known as the OPM.
“The situation in Puncak Jaya is uncertain; the people are in a state of panic because of a shooting in Kota Mulia,” Puron Morbinak, a resident of Mulia, said in a text message to the Jakarta Globe.
“People in the villages of Kulirik, Dondobaga, Talileme, Karubateand Yalingga are terrified and they’re scared of going to church.
“Members of the military and the National Police have been operating in the area up until Sunday, making the shooting unavoidable,” he added.
Puron said none of the local leaders in Mulia had acted on the issue, creating further panic among residents.
“This has been going on for weeks, [but] no leaders such as the district chief, deputy district chief, local council speaker or regional secretary [have responded]. The head of the church is also not present. The people are without a leader and are all over the place,” he said.
“This issue should be handled seriously, so that no civilians fall victim. The media is closed; nothing that’s happening in Puncak Jaya is known anywhere else in the country or in the international community.”
Puron said that residents were still unclear about whether the shooting had resulted in fatalities. “Because the shooting is still ongoing, the people are too afraid to leave their homes,” he said.
Another resident, Melianus Telenggen, said two local residents’ houses have been torched during the fighting.
Sr. Comr. Pujo Sulistyo, a spokesman for the Papua Police, declined to confirm whether there was fighting in Puncak Jaya; Col. Lismer Lumbang Siantar, a spokesman for the Cendrawasih Military Command, which oversees the TNI’s operations in Papua and West Papua provinces, did not respond to queries.
Antara quoted the Cendrawasih commander, Maj. Gen. Christian Zebua, as saying a soldier had been shot and killed by an armed group. The incident occurred after soldiers shot and killed a gunman and seized his firearm in Pintu Angin, Mulia.
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2)Residents in Papua fear being on streets after shootings
Updated at 2:53 pm today
There are more reports of shootings in Indonesia's Papua region, with claims that people are in fear of being on the streets and cannot get to church.
Step Magazine reports locals have reacted cautiously to a firefight on Friday that killed one Indonesian soldier and three Papuan guerrilla fighters.
The Associated Press in Indonesia reports a spokesperson for the Indonesian army said the clash broke out on Friday when about 25 soldiers and police launched a security operation in Puncak Jaya, near the site of the copper and gold mine operated by US firm Freeport McMoRan.
The Papuan newspaper Tabloid Jubi has reported there was another shooting on Sunday, but did not provide any details of deaths or injuries.
The Bintang Papua site says the rebel OPM, or Free Papua Movement, fired on Indonesian military soldiers and injured at least one of them.
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3) Four deaths in fire fight in Indonesia's Papua province
Updated at 9:14 am today
Three insurgents and one soldier have died in a firefight in the remote Indonesian province of Papua, near the controversial US-owned Freeport-McMoRan gold and copper mine.
The Associated Press in Indonesia reports a spokesperson for the Indonesian army said the clash broke out on Friday when about 25 soldiers and police launched a security operation in Puncak Jaya.
A rebel spokesman could not be reached for comment.
The fatal encounter was the latest round of violence near the mine run by Freeport-McMoRan, one of the world's largest copper and gold producers.
The Papua chapter of the National Commission for Human Rights says more than 50 people, including nine soldiers, were killed during clashes in the province late last year.
The Indonesian government does not allow foreign media to freely report in Papua, where it has tens of thousands of troops. The site of Friday's clash was inaccessible to local reporters.
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4) WEST PAPUA: Greens call for end to 'aid that kills' after media report
New Zealand Herald coverage of the West Papua "aid that kills"
allegations. Image: Paul Bensemann
allegations. Image: Paul Bensemann
Monday, January 27, 2014
Item: 8469
AUCKLAND (Green Party/Pacific Media Watch): The Green Party is calling on the New Zealand government to end their $6.3 million police training programme in West Papua in light of new evidence from a New Zealand journalist about abuses being carried out by the police.
Journalist and academic Paul Bensemann travelled to West Papua undercover in 2013 and spoke with West Papuan people about the effects of the programme so far. His findings were published at the weekend by the New Zealand Herald, Pacific Media Centre Online and Pacific Scoop.
“This new evidence strengthens our concern that the New Zealand police training programme in West Papua has done nothing to make West Papuan citizens safer and needs to end,” Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty said.
“Paul Bensemann found evidence that police violence continues to be a norm and it’s shocking that as a country we are funding a programme that some Papuans refer to as ‘aid that kills’.
“Our aid reputation is at stake when we collude with a police state by training their police force that regularly kill citizens.
“Our $6.3 million should be redirected into New Zealand mediating for peace between West Papuan leaders and Indonesia.
“It is so difficult to monitor an aid programme operating in a country where there is no free press and foreign journalists have to pretend to be birdwatchers to investigate the truth about what West Papuans think of our training programme.
'Stop training'
“I am calling on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to stop the police training programme immediately and to redirect resources into peace mediation between the Indonesian Government and West Papuan leaders.
“Not only is our reputation as a country committed to effective and ethical aid programmes at stake, we are also colluding with a brutal police force within a police and military occupied country.
“West Papuans are asking us to stop funding this programme and supporting their violent police, we need to do so now.”
New Zealand accused of providing 'aid that kills'
Journalist and academic Paul Bensemann travelled to West Papua undercover in 2013 and spoke with West Papuan people about the effects of the programme so far. His findings were published at the weekend by the New Zealand Herald, Pacific Media Centre Online and Pacific Scoop.
“This new evidence strengthens our concern that the New Zealand police training programme in West Papua has done nothing to make West Papuan citizens safer and needs to end,” Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty said.
“Paul Bensemann found evidence that police violence continues to be a norm and it’s shocking that as a country we are funding a programme that some Papuans refer to as ‘aid that kills’.
“Our aid reputation is at stake when we collude with a police state by training their police force that regularly kill citizens.
“Our $6.3 million should be redirected into New Zealand mediating for peace between West Papuan leaders and Indonesia.
“It is so difficult to monitor an aid programme operating in a country where there is no free press and foreign journalists have to pretend to be birdwatchers to investigate the truth about what West Papuans think of our training programme.
'Stop training'
“I am calling on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to stop the police training programme immediately and to redirect resources into peace mediation between the Indonesian Government and West Papuan leaders.
“Not only is our reputation as a country committed to effective and ethical aid programmes at stake, we are also colluding with a brutal police force within a police and military occupied country.
“West Papuans are asking us to stop funding this programme and supporting their violent police, we need to do so now.”
New Zealand accused of providing 'aid that kills'
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