Thursday, March 26, 2015

1) Youth in West Papua 'frightened' after shooting

2) West Papua activist Benny Wenda leaves Papua New Guinea after 'visa issue', government says
3) Reports of West Papuans beaten for gathering to support Vanautu cyclone 
4) Activist Groups Urge Central Government to Settle Rights Abuse Cases
5) Police Accused of Stealing Money During Operation in Yahukimo

6) Merauke to Be Rice Suppliers for Papua
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http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/269633/youth-in-west-papua-'frightened'-after-shooting

1) Youth in West Papua 'frightened' after shooting

Updated at 8:45 am today


Youth in West Papua say they are frightened in the aftermath of a deadly shooting in Yahukimo regency.
A fundraiser last week lapsed into chaos when Indonesian police forces started forcibly breaking up the crowd.
A policeman's weapon was stolen in the melee that followed, and police fired at the crowd, killing one Papuan and wounding three others.
The Papua Police Spokesperson, Commissioner Patrige Renwarin, told Tabloid Jubi five people were arrested and all but one have been released.
He says the stolen firearm has been found at the secretariat office of the KNPB, or West Papua National Committee.
The Papuan Police Chief, Inspector General Yotje Mende, says the KNPB should be banned because it's an underground organisation.
But the Australian West Papua Association says that would be an attack on democracy, as the KNPB is a peaceful organisation bringing to the world's attention the suffering of the West Papua people.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-26/west-papua-activist-benny-wenda-leaves-png-after-visa-issue/6350804

2) West Papua activist Benny Wenda leaves Papua New Guinea after 'visa issue', government says

By Liam Fox
Updated 
Papua New Guinea's government says a prominent West Papuan activist has been flown out of the country because he was travelling without a visa.
Benny Wenda, spokesman for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, was detained by immigration officials when he arrived in Port Moresby on Tuesday.
He had flown from the United Kingdom and had planned to visit PNG before heading to Vanuatu for a meeting of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
"Now I'm deported," Mr Wenda said before being taken to the international terminal at Port Moresby's airport.
"That means I leave this country, but my spirit and the struggle, I will leave it with the people of PNG today."
The office of Papua New Guinea's prime minister Peter O'Neill said Mr Wenda had arrived in the country without a visa.
A spokesman for Mr O'Neill said the West Papuan independence leader was not being deported, but he was "not permitted to enter the country".
"It's not a political issue, it's a visa issue," he said.
The prime minister intervened in the case on Wednesday and met with Mr Wenda and PNG immigration officials.
Mr Wenda, who had been released into the care of friends, flew out of PNG on Thursday afternoon.
Last month Mr O'Neill said he would start speaking out about human rights abuses in the Indonesian province of West Papua.
"I think, as a country, time has come for us to speak about the oppression of our people there," he said.
Some observers have wondered whether Mr Wenda's forced departure from PNG represents a backdown by Mr O'Neill.
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3) Reports of West Papuans beaten for gathering to support Vanautu cyclone 

Updated 26 March 2015, 11:21 AEDT

Reports out of the Indonesian province of West Papua say police have violently broken up two gatherings where people had sought to raise money for victims of Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu.
Reports of West Papuans beaten for gathering to support Vanautu cyclone (Credit: ABC) 

It's believed in one incident four people were shot and one person died from their injuries.
The crackdowns come after the Vanuatu government provided support to a bid by a recently unified coalition of West Papuan independence groups to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
Presenter: Liam Fox
Speaker: Nick Chesterfield, editor of West Papua Media in Australia

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4) Activist Groups Urge Central Government to Settle Rights Abuse Cases

 Mar 26th, 2015 0 Comment
Jayapura, Jubi – Two activist groups have urged the central government to settle cases of human right violations in Papua.
The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) in Papua and Bersatu Untuk Kebenaran (BUK/Unite for Truth) said the government of President Joko Widodo must have the courage to take the initiative to address the cases.
BUK Coordinator Peneas Lokbere said today is the day to commemorate victims of violence and human right violations.
“For example the case of Wasior, I thought we had a progress in handling the case but the execution is stagnant by the Indonesian State Attorney as well as the several cases occurred in Wamena in 2001, Biak in 1998, and Paniai in 2014,” Lokbere told reporters in Abepura on Tuesday (24/3/2015).
He further said BUK and KontraS also asked the governor and Papua Legislative Council to promote the evaluation on security approach that recently occurred in Papua raising the state of violence against Papuan people.
In addition, both organizations asked the Military Commander and Papua Police Chief to immediately discontinue the repressive approaches by officers as well as to promote the enforcement of law and human right in Papua by taking their officers who frequently involved in many violence in Papua.
Meanwhile, KontraS Papua Coordinator Olga Hamadi said until now actually many human right violations are committed by State against its citizens. In particular for Papua, there is no significant change to refer to the last case of recent case such as Paniai case, which was occurred in Desember 2014.
“We saw the officers are still executing the repressive approach against its citizens. So it’s important to us to give them alert as a form of our collective responsibility,” she said.
She further said especially for today, BUK and KontraS recalled the commitment of Jokowi’s government in his campaign to resolve the human violation right in Indonesia.
“That’s him (Widodo) who said he would be more focused to solve the human right violation cases. But we saw he has no courage to solve the cases in Papua or outside of Papua,” she reminded Jokowi to accomplish his promise in solving the human right violation cases.
She said the civil authority in Papua is also weak in responding many cases related to violence by State. “They (civil authority) have no courage to speak. But we think it’s important to remind them to immediately evaluate what was happening in Papua. They always use the military approach. Whenever they encounter a problem, they must assign the police to handle it. So, where is the civil authority? It seems there is no other way while we knew Papuan people had trauma with the military approach. So it couldn’t be applied in Papua,” she said. (Arnold Belau/rom)
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5) Police Accused of Stealing Money During Operation in Yahukimo

 Mar 26th, 2015 0 Comment
Jayapura, Jubi – Police have been accused of stealing money belonging to residents who live around the secretariat of Yahukimo KNPB (West Papua National Committee) during a raid on the group’s headquarters in Dekai, Yahukimo Regency.
KNPB Spokesperson Bazoka Logo told reporters in Abepura that the Papua Mobile Brigade under the command of Yahukimo Police Chief Adjunct Police Commissionaire Ade Djaja Subagja raided the KNPB secretariat. Residential houses near the secretariat were also ransacked and damaged.
“In this operation, the officers also seized people’s money. Haluwon Sub-district Chief Bernard Yahuli lost 30 million while 20 million rupiah was seized from an elementary teachers. Those officers also destructed the people’s houses.
Meanwhile, Yahukimo Regional People Parliament (PRD) Chairman Aminus Balingga texted Jubi from Yahukimo the Mobile Brigade and local police officers in doing a searching and raiding robbed and destructed people’s belongings.
“During the operation, the police stole people’s money. They took 30 millions rupiahs from Bernard Yahuli, 18 million rupiahs from Seri Selak, 7 million rupiahs from Obet Sobolim, 3 million rupiahs from Tius Balingga, and 1,8 million rupiahs from Jekson Silak. Those officers also seized three motorcycles and destructed 14 houses where located near the KNPB secretariat. Further a car was badly damaged. They even destroyed people’s television,” he said.
Related to the police’s act, the Central KNPB and Yahukimo PRD asked the Papua Police for taking responsibility on this incident. KNPB also asked the Papua Legislative Council and Human Right Commission to form an investigation team.(Arnold Belau/rom)
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6) Merauke to Be Rice Suppliers for Papua

 Mar 26th, 2015 0 Comment
Merauke, Jubi- Papua agriculture chief Samuel Seriwa said 121 tones of rice for civil servants and military/police and that intended for the poor would be supplied from Merauke as instructed by Papua governor Lukas Enembe.
“Therefore, I continue to build communication with the head of Department of Agriculture of Merauke, Bambang Dwiatmoko related to land cleared. According to annual reports, land cleared for cultivation of rice and some other crops is approximately 42 thousand hectares,” he said in Swissbell Hotel on Tuesday (24/03/2015).
He then said in order to deal with the scarcity of fertilizers the government would cooperate with two companies to distribute them.
Admittedly, some regencies such as Jayapura and Nabire and Keerom also produce rice, but the outputs are still very small compared to Merauke.
The government will continue to provide support for a wide range of facilities for land clearing equipment including agriculture and irrigation improvements.
The head of Agriculture in Merauke, Bambang Dwiatmoko added, the government will continue to encourage and motivate farmers to clear land as well as to developed a variety of different crops including rice. (Frans L Kobun/ Tina)
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