2) Church, govt offer food to starving people in Indonesia's Papua
Indonesian police on Friday said they had found the bodies of six more civilians killed in an attack on gold miners by Papuan separatist rebels earlier this month, bringing the death toll to 13.
The victims were among a group of non-Papuan miners who, according to officials, were attacked on Oct. 16 by insurgents from the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) in Yahukimo, a regency in Papua Highlands province. A day after the deaths of seven miners were reported, the rebels claimed responsibility for the attack.
The six decomposed bodies were discovered during a joint search operation by police and the military on Friday morning, following reports from South Sulawesi province residents who were looking for their missing relatives, Yahukimo Police Chief Heru Hidayanto said.
“We managed to find six more bodies, quite far from the initial location where we found [seven bodies] on Oct. 16, 2023,” he said in a statement.
Bayu Suseno, spokesman for Peace Cartenz, a police-military task force dealing with the insurgency in Papua, said he did not know whether other people may still be missing in the wake of the attack.
"But we will search again in the next few days,” Bayu told BenarNews.
The attack was the worst incident since December 2018, when rebels killed 19 road workers and a soldier.
The task force said most of the victims from this month’s attack were gold prospectors from South Sulawesi and one was from North Sumatra.
It said the rebel leader, Asbak Koranue, was part of the Liberation Army faction led by Egianus Kogoya, which has been holding a New Zealand pilot hostage since February in Papua’s Nduga regency.
Liberation Army spokesman Sebby Sambom did not immediately respond to a BenarNews request for comment.
On Oct. 17, Sambom told BenarNews that his group had killed seven illegal gold miners in Yahukimo who “were military informants,” as he warned migrants from other parts of Indonesia to leave the conflict areas in Papua.
Longstanding conflict
Tensions have arisen over the years in Papua, a mountainous and underdeveloped region in the easternmost part of the archipelago following the settlement of large numbers of people from other regions of Indonesia as part of a government transmigration program.
Violence between Indonesian security forces and separatist rebels has spiked in recent years.
Papua was a Dutch colony that was transferred to Indonesia in 1963 under a U.N.-brokered agreement.
In 1969, under U.N. supervision, Indonesia held a referendum in Papua that was widely seen as rigged. Only about 1,000 people were allowed to vote and they were reportedly coerced to choose to join Indonesia.
Human rights groups have accused both sides of committing atrocities and violating human rights.
Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International in Indonesia, said the government should immediately talk with pro-independence groups in Papua to end the violence there.
He said the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, a separatist coalition, had recently called for dialogue to solve the problem.
“Hostility must stop. There must be a ceasefire and a humanitarian pause to deal with displacement,” Usman told BenarNews.
He also said that blaming the Liberation Army for the killings was not enough as he urged authorities to bring criminal cases against those who harm civilians in Papua.
“That way police can be sure who the perpetrators are,” he said.
2) Church, govt offer food to starving people in Indonesia's Papua
Church groups in Indonesia’s Christian-majority Papua region joined the government to provide food aid to hundreds of indigenous people hit by famine because of crop failure.
In collaboration with church groups, food aid has been sent through 17 flights to the worst affected Amuma, Panggema, and Anggruk districts since Oct. 21, the Ministry of Social Affairs said in an Oct. 26 statement.
The Yahukimo Regency in the Papua Mountain province has declared an emergency from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1 after 23 people died of starvation in the province.
The crop failure is attributed to a combination of hailstorms, severe frost and drought linked to the global El Niño phenomenon, which started to impact Indonesia in June, according to a report by Save the Children.
“There are about 500 people in two areas. Their staple food is sweet potatoes. However, they experienced crop failure due to heavy rain since last month," she told UCA News on Oct. 27.
“The condition became worse after landslides damaged their houses. They are now taking refuge in safe neighboring villages, some in refugee camps," she said.
She said their church received requests for help from 30 villages in Yahukimo Regency.
She said her church received an allocation of 60 tons of aid from the Ministry of Social Affairs in the form of basic necessities, such as rice, packaged food, sugar and blankets.
She said the distribution of aid was "very challenging" because the areas are located in the mountains and can only be accessed by plane and the airports are small.
"We had to rent a small plane with a round trip cost of 74,000,000 rupiah (US$4,645) from Sentani, Jayapura, while the goods we could bring were also limited," she said.
She said the church had also allocated a budget to help distribute aid.
Vice President Ma'aruf Amin in a statement on Oct. 25 said the government will prepare a long-term plan to ensure that the staple food stock of the Yahukimo community remains safe throughout the year.
Death due to starvation is not new in Papua. In August, six people reportedly died of starvation in Puncak Regency, Central Papua Province.
She said that the priority should be opening access to inland areas, creating appropriate policies to support the production of local crops by the community, and providing health services when people face hunger.
"Fulfillment of the right to food should ensure the nutritional quality of available food and guarantee people's freedom to use food systems that are culturally appropriate and the potential of local resources," he said.
He said in finding solutions to this issue, the government also needs to “take into account the socio-cultural and geographical characteristics and conditions of the Papuans.”
Indonesia annexed the easternmost region in the 1960s at the end of Dutch colonial rule. Indonesian rule has triggered a long-running insurgency for independence and a military crackdown that claimed hundreds of lives and displaced thousands.
Jayapura, Jubi – The Papua Polica has provided four tons of rice and instant noodles to the Amuma District community in Yahukimo Regency, Mountainous Papua Province. The residents of Amuma District are grappling with food shortages brought on by a prolonged drought and crop failures resulting from extreme weather conditions since August 2023.
In a WhatsApp message sent on Thursday (26/10/2023), Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Mathius Fakhiri affirmed their commitment to address the issue. The aid distribution will be conducted under the supervision of the Yahukimo Police and with the assistance of the local government’s Emergency Response Team.
Fakhiri expressed the police’s readiness to fully support the local government in addressing the hunger problem in Papua and stressed the importance of preventing a recurrence of such a crisis in the future. He hopes that the food assistance for the Amuma community can be swiftly distributed.
Papua Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Ignatius Benny Ady Prabowo said the aid would be transported via helicopter due to the difficult terrain of Amuma District.
According to Benny, the Yahukimo Emergency Response Team reports 24 deaths in Amuma.
from August 2023 until today. These fatalities were spread across 13 villages in Amuma District and were attributed to various causes, including hunger, illness, and old age. (*)
Jayapura, Jubi – Secretary of the Kingmi Papua Synod Dominggus Pigai reports that the number of deaths due to starvation in Yahukimo Regency’s Amuma District has increased, a result of crop failure.
“According to the data reported by the district head, there were 11 fatalities initially since September. However, in October, an additional five individuals passed away. Therefore, the total number of casualties due to starvation in the Amuma District has risen to 17,” he conveyed to Jubi over a phone call on Friday, October 20, 2023.
The Amuma District has been experiencing continuous heavy rainfall since August 2023, accompanied by hot weather. Consequently, the local residents’ plantations, mainly sweet potatoes and taro, have suffered from crop failures. This crop failure has affected the gardens in 13 villages in the Amuma District, triggering a famine that has resulted in the deaths of infants and adults.
The number of victims is likely to increase as a church team is currently compiling data on the deceased. Based on data provided by the Amuma Kingmi Church, the villages affected by the famine are Amuma, Sarmoge, Ogoruga, Pulau, Sagasal, Harapan, Wayegeikelek, Toligapura, Kolowen, Kenika, Silorin, Balumeran, and Wesi.
The following are the names of the individuals who have passed away due to starvation from August to October 2023:
- Anak Joni Lagoan (Male), aged 9 years
- Herman Payage (Male), aged 11 years
- Mariana Matuan (Female), aged 20 years
- Anthon Bayage (Male), aged 39 years
- Hariana Payage (Female), aged 40 years
- Elin Matuan (Female), aged 29 years
- Matias Heluka (Male), aged 40 years
- Hernia Yelemaken (Female), aged 7 years
- Nones Lagoan (Male), aged 20 years
- Penias Heluka (Male), aged 14 years
- Meliance Meage (Female), aged 39 years
- Melkias Lagoan (Male), aged 3 months
- Harina Heluka (Female), aged 5 years
- Jalnhwe Heluka (Female), aged 20 years
- Yosua Matuan (Male), aged 3 years
- Yohana Heluka (Female), aged 4 years
- Wene Matuan (Male), aged 40 years.
Pigai mentioned that the Ministry of Social Affairs has contacted the Kingmi church to verify the information concerning the deaths of residents in the Amuma District. This is to facilitate the distribution of aid to the affected victim.
Pigai emphasized that the government must find the appropriate solution so that the people survive this epidemic and prevent further casualties. (*)
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