1) Regenvanu: Vanuatu needs to maintain strong support for West Papua
Vanuatu needs to advocate strongly with other MSG countries to ensure ULMWP application for full membership is accepted, says Regenvanu
Vanuatu needs to continue to maintain its strong support for West Papua by ensuring that the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP)’s application for full membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) is listed on the agenda for consideration during the MSG Leaders Meeting soon.
Leader of Opposition and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ralph Regenvanu, made this statement in a press conference yesterday.
ULMWP’s application for full membership status was not considered at the Senior Officials Meeting, the first of three meetings that will happen, he said.
“While I was still the Foreign Affairs Minister, I attended the last MSG Meeting in Fiji. At that meeting, the MSG Leaders accepted that the application of ULMWP was ready to be considered at the next MSG Leaders Meeting,” the Leader of Opposition said.
“Now we are in the process leading up to the next meeting.
“The fact that it was not on the agenda at the Senior Officials Meeting suggest that no one has put it on the agenda.
“Therefore, I’m calling onto the Prime Minister to make sure Vanuatu places that item on agenda for consideration and also for him to come out publicly and declare that Vanuatu will support the application for ULMWP membership.
“I would like for the Vanuatu Government to push strongly to make sure the application is accepted.”
Regenvanu said a lot of work was done during his term as the Foreign Affairs Minister that has attracted the international community to deal with the human rights issues in West Papua.
“There has been no further progress than what we already accomplished in 2019. This is an opportunity for the government to show that it is maintaining the strong support for West Papua through getting MSG to approve ULMWP application.”
Vanuatu needs to advocate strongly with other MSG countries to make sure the agenda is passed, said the Opposition Leader.
ULMWP already has observer status in the regional group whose full members are Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia’s Kanaks.
However, no detailed reports are yet available on the fatal shooting, Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mathius Fakhiri told ANTARA in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province, on Sunday.
Dani NK visited the village along with seven security personnel at about 9:20 a.m. local time aboard four motorcycles. During the stay in the village, he got shot in a gunfight with several armed Papuan criminals.
According to Fakhiri, the coffin of this fallen BIN agent would be moved from Beoga to Timika, the capital of Mimika District.
Dambet Village is some three kilometers away from Beoga. It recently came under attack by the armed Papuan criminals, who had set ablaze several houses of innocent civilians and elementary school buildings.
Over these past four months, Papua has borne the brunt of a string of violent attacks by the armed groups targeting civilians in districts, such as Puncak and Intan Jaya.
The armed groups often employ hit-and-run tactics against Indonesian security personnel, while they unleash acts of terror against civilians to instill a sense of fear among the people.
Among the victims of their acts of terror are motorcycle taxi (ojek) drivers, teachers, students, and street food vendors. They also attack civilian aircraft.
On January 6, 2021, for instance, some 10 armed Papuans vandalized and torched a Quest Kodiak aircraft belonging to the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) at the Pagamba Village airstrip.
They continued their campaign of terror by shooting a 32-year-old man at close range in Bilogai Village, Sugapa Sub-district, on February 8, 2021.
The victim, identified by his initials as RNR, sustained gunshot wounds on the face and right shoulder and was taken to the Timika Public Hospital in Mimika District on February 9.
On February 9, 2021, six armed Papuans fatally stabbed an ojek driver.
On April 8, 2021, several armed Papuan rebels reportedly opened fire at a kiosk in Julukoma Village, Beoga Sub-district, Puncak District, at about 9:30 a.m. local time.
The shooting resulted in the death of a Beoga public elementary school teacher, Oktovianus Rayo.
After killing Rayo, the armed attackers torched three classrooms at the Beoga public senior high school.
On April 9, 2021, armed rebels reportedly shot another teacher, Yonatan Randen, on the chest.
Several villagers tried to save the junior high school teacher and rushed him to the Beoga public health center, but he succumbed to his injuries.
The armed criminals operating in Beoga Sub-district seem unsatisfied with the killings conducted so far. On April 11, 2021, the armed criminals torched nine classrooms at the Beoga public junior high school.
Four days after burning the school building down, the armed criminals killed Ali Mom, a student of the Ilaga public senior high school in Beoga Sub-district.
Related news: Security personnel challenged to secure Papua's PON National Games
Related news: Slain student's father decries armed Papuan criminals as terrorists
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Jayapura, Indonesia: An Indonesian brigadier general was killed in an ongoing clash between security forces and a rebel group in restive Papua province, authorities said.
The clashes started April 8 in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua province after rebels set fire to three schools and shot to death a teacher in Beoga village in Puncak district. Another teacher was also killed a day later as rebels fired at teachers’ housing complex and burned down a house of a tribal chief in Beoga.
Police, military and intelligence forces joined Operation Nemangkawi to find the attackers, who authorities believe belong to the West Papua Liberation Army, the military wing of the Free Papua Organisation.
Rebels have been fighting a low-level insurgency since the early 1960s, when Indonesia annexed Papua, a former Dutch colony. Papua was formally incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a UN-sponsored ballot that was seen as a sham by many.
Papua’s intelligence agency chief Brig. Gen. Gusti Putu Danny Nugraha was shot in his head and died in a rebel ambush, said Col. Iqbal Alqudusy, the Operation Nemangkawi’s spokesperson.
The ambush occurred while the general was patrolling Beoga’s neighbouring village of Dambet with 13 other personnel on motorcycles Sunday afternoon after rebels set fire to an elementary school and houses in the village, he said.
He said security forces managed to evacuate the body on Monday morning while a joint military and police force was hunting “an armed separatist criminal group”.
“We are on the highest alert as instructed to all troops on the ground,” Alqudusy said.
“I emphasise that there is no place for armed criminal groups in Papua and in all corners of the country,” Widodo said from the Merdeka Palace in the capital, Jakarta, on Monday.
Attacks by rebels in several districts in Papua have spiked in the past year, including in the Grasberg mine.
The Grasberg mine’s vast gold and copper reserves have been extracted for decades by Freeport-McMoRan, damaging the surrounding environment while providing significant tax income for the Indonesian government.
But indigenous Papuans have benefited little and are poorer, sicker and more likely to die young than people elsewhere in Indonesia.
From Timika, the coffin of this fallen head of Indonesia's National Intelligence Agency (BIN)-Papua Office, would be transported to Jakarta for a military funeral at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery on Tuesday.
Dani NK died in a gunfight with several armed Papuan criminals, Commander of the XVII/Cenderawasih Regional Military Command Maj. Gen. Ignatius Yogo Triyono told ANTARA in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province, on Sunday evening.
Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mathius Fakhiri earlier stated that this fallen BIN agent had died of gunshot wounds in Dambet Village, Beoga Sub-district, Puncak District, on Sunday at 3:50 p.m. local time.
Dani NK visited the village along with seven security personnel at about 9:20 a.m. local time aboard four motorcycles. During the stay at the village, he got shot during the gunfight.
Dambet Village is some three kilometers away from Beoga. It recently came under attack by armed Papuan criminals, who had set ablaze several houses of innocent civilians and elementary school buildings.
Over these past four months, Papua has borne the brunt of a string of violent attacks by the armed groups targeting civilians in districts, such as Puncak and Intan Jaya.
The armed groups often employ hit-and-run tactics against Indonesian security personnel, while they unleash acts of terror against civilians to instill a sense of fear among the people.
Among the victims of their acts of terror are motorcycle taxi (ojek) drivers, teachers, students, and street food vendors. They had also attacked civilian aircraft.
On January 6, 2021, for instance, some 10 armed Papuans vandalized and torched a Quest Kodiak aircraft belonging to the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) at the Pagamba Village airstrip.
They continued their campaign of terror by shooting a 32-year-old man at close range in Bilogai Village, Sugapa Sub-district, on February 8, 2021.
The victim, identified by his initials as RNR, sustained gunshot wounds on the face and right shoulder and was taken to the Timika Public Hospital in Mimika District on February 9.
On February 9, 2021, six armed Papuans fatally stabbed an ojek driver.
On April 8, 2021, several armed Papuan rebels reportedly opened fire at a kiosk in Julukoma Village, Beoga Sub-district, Puncak District, at about 9:30 a.m. local time.
The shooting resulted in the death of a Beoga public elementary school teacher, Oktovianus Rayo.
After killing Rayo, the armed attackers torched three classrooms at the Beoga public senior high school.
On April 9, 2021, armed rebels reportedly shot another teacher, Yonatan Randen, on the chest.
Several villagers tried to save the junior high school teacher and rushed him to the Beoga public health center, but he succumbed to his injuries.
The armed criminals operating in Beoga Sub-district apparently had intentions to continue with their belligerent acts. On April 11, 2021, the armed criminals had torched nine classrooms at the Beoga public junior high school.
Four days after burning the school building down, the armed criminals killed Ali Mom, a student of the Ilaga public senior high school in Beoga Sub-district. Related news: Indonesia's top agent in Papua dies of gunshot wounds
Related news: Slain student's father decries armed Papuan criminals as terrorists
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