Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mathius Fakhiri made the statement on Monday (July 17) in response to the attacks launched by several armed separatist terrorists operating in Intan Jaya on a police and military post in Homeyo.
Fakhiri did not elaborate on the exact number of personnel that he pledged to dispatch to Homeyo, but their deployment would hopefully reinforce the local police stations in the subdistrict.
Homeyo can be reached by a 10-minute flight from Sugapa, the capital of Intan Jaya District, Papua Province.
Papua Police spokesperson Sen. Coms. Ignatius Benni Prabowo had stated earlier that a group of armed Papuan separatist terrorists attacked a police and military station in Homeyo on Sunday (July 16).
The police and army personnel responded to the assaults. The gunfight broke out when a meeting for clarifying the loss of an assault rifle (SS1) belonging to the Homeyo police precinct was being held, he stated.
There were no fatalities as a result of the gunfight, he stated, adding that the armed separatist terrorists grabbed the rifle from the Homeyo police precinct at about 6 p.m. local time on Saturday (July 15).
"With the help of local residents, may the missing rifle be returned to the police," Prabowo remarked.
ANTARA had reported earlier that over the past few years, armed Papuan groups have often employed hit-and-run tactics against Indonesian security personnel and mounted acts of terror against civilians in the districts of Intan Jaya, Nduga, and Puncak to trigger fear among the people.
The targets of such acts of terror have included construction workers, motorcycle taxi (ojek) drivers, teachers, students, street food vendors, and also civilian aircraft.
On December 2, 2018, a group of armed Papuan rebels brutally killed PT Istaka Karya's 31 workers, who were engaged in the Trans Papua project in Kali Yigi and Kali Aurak in Yigi Sub-district, Nduga District.
The same day, armed attackers also killed a soldier, identified as Handoko, and injured two other security personnel, Sugeng and Wahyu.
Such acts of violence continued to occur in 2021, 2022, and 2023. On February 7, 2023, a group of armed Papuan separatists attacked a civilian aircraft owned by Susi Air.
They burned the plane at Paro Airfield, Nduga District, and captured its pilot, Captain Philip Mark Marthens. Again, on March 11, a Trigana Air plane was also shot at by members of an armed Papuan separatist group.
Related news: Police probe attack on MAF plane in Papua's Intan Jaya
Related news: Papuan separatists abduct four BTS construction workers in Okbibab
2) Melanesian Leaders Summit Postponed
The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Leaders Summit proposed to be held from July 17 to 21 is postponed to another date, which is yet to be confirmed.
This was confirmed by the Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Jotham Napat. He said the MSG Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting last month proposed this date pending confirmation from each member country.
Foreign Affairs Minister Napat said they have received a confirmation from the government of Solomon Islands noting they have a clash with their Parliament Sitting, therefore the meeting had to be rescheduled.
“Vanuatu’s Prime Minister as Chair of the MSG will write to the members for them to reschedule the meeting on another date where every leaders are available to complete their issues,” he told the Daily Post.
“For Vanuatu, July is already full of activities. The President of France is arriving soon. We are looking at organising the meeting in August.”
Asked to confirm whether the endorsement of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (UMLWP) as a full member of MSG is going to be an agenda at this Leaders Meeting, the DPM replied that this was not discussed at the MSG Foreign Affairs Minister Meeting.
He explained that the Foreign Affairs Minister Meeting discussed only the budget and its approval, however the application for UMLWP becoming a full member will be discussed in a retreat by the MSG Prime Ministers before any adoption. Vanuatu has strongly been supporting this agenda.
The Jakarta Globe reported that the DPM and Foreign Affairs Minister has discussed the possibility of Vanuatu opening an embassy in Indonesia with his Indonesian counterpart during his visit there last month.
He said he told his counterpart about Vanuatu’s push for West Papua to be part of MSG. “Indonesia has been very frank about this matter. They consider West Papua as part of them and they told us that we (Vanuatu) are undermining their sovereignty.
“This does not stop us to keep pushing this agenda to the MSG Leaders to decide on it. It’s a sensitive issue that needs to be agreed by all leaders. Every decision are to be taken by consensus, it will be very difficult if some of the leaders are reluctant to support the agenda,” he said.
Indonesia has been providing scholarships for Papua New Guineans and Fijians to study abroad. Asked if such assistance could jeopardise Vanuatu’s push for West Papua, Minister Napat said: “Vanuatu is a sovereign country and it must decide on its own destiny and future.
“It is the same for PNG, it has its own sovereign right. Somewhere we (Vanuatu) have to find what is our interest, whether we continue pursuing the idea or we decide on a different path but continue advocate.
“You cannot be shouting from outside. You have to sit at the roundtable with them and talk so that they can hear you. It’s an interest for Vanuatu to pursue the matter, but when it comes to MSG its a collective decision.”
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