Markus Makur, Timika – Hundreds of employees at PT Freeport Indonesia refused to resume work Monday in protest at the deteriorating security situation on road from Timika to Tembagapura in Papua.
The strike follows a spate of shootings by unknown gunmen on Freeport convoys along the road.
Roselyn Ellison – Seventy-six people from the West Papuan community in Manus province will move back to their homeland, as part of the nationwide repatriation of refugees from the Indonesian province.
Jayapura – Around 200 people blocked a road in front of Papua Police Headquarters in Jayapura on Friday, as part of a protest against a decision to transfer the Jayapura Police chief.
The rally, which involved people performing a traditional ritual, caused traffic jams in nearby areas from the time it began at 11 a.m. local time (9 a.m. Jakarta time).
Markus Makur, Timika – The wives and children of PT Freeport Indonesia employees rallied at the Mimika legislative council office in Papua on Thursday, demanding the giant US-based gold and copper company ensure the safety of their husbands.
Farouk Arnaz – National Police have dispatched 150 officers, including antiterror police, to Timika, Papua, to support local officers and the military in their hunt for suspects following violent attacks targeting Freeport employees.
Nethy Dharma Somba and Markus Makur, Jayapura, Timika – Residents in Nomouwodide, Bogobaida district in Paniai, Papua, seized Wednesday a helicopter scheduled to haul heavy equipment to a small-scale gold mine at the Degeuwo River.
Unidentified assailants have shot a soldier near the giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold mine in Papua, police said on Thursday.
Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto said a soldier was shot in the leg as he was returning from a patrol around the 37-mile mark in Kali Kopi, Timika, on Wednesday.
Markus Makur, Timika, Papua – Papua Police are cooperating with the military as they begin hunting for gunmen responsible for a shooting incident that wounded two employees of US mining company PT Freeport Indonesia in Mimika, Papua.
Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto said Wednesday the unidentified gunmen were very mobile.
Nethy Dharma Somba and Markus Makur, Jayapura, Timika – One person was killed and three others injured Tuesday in two separate attacks blamed on unidentified gunmen in restive Papua province.
Violence flared again near the Freeport gold mine in Indonesia's Papua province as gunmen shot and wounded two of the company's employees, police said on Tuesday.
It is to be hoped that Prime Minister Rudd will also raise the issue of West Papua on his trip to Indonesia for the inauguration of the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday.
A New Zealand based Indonesian human rights group says it's totally opposed to the importation of the tropical hardwood, Kwila, regardless of whether it is certified sustainable or not.
Ten-thousand metres of the wood, which is certified by New Zealand's Forest Stewardship Council, is due to be imported from Malaysia shortly and more is planned.
The Indonesian embassy in Papua New Guinea has denied that West Papuan refugees who are repatriated to Indonesia will be in danger at the hands of the security forces when they return.
Indonesia's government is planning a mass repatriation of about 400 Moresby-based refugees next month, having offered to fund any West Papuans who want to return by the end of the year.
It is understandable that some West Papuan refugees who have been in exile in PNG since the 1980's may want to return home to reunite with family members and in the hope things have changed for the better in their homeland. It is difficult being a refugee in any country and it is natural to want to improve life for your family and children.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNLC) said dozens of organizations in the restive province of Papua demanded talks with the central government to find peaceful solutions for separatist and human rights' violation issues.
Indonesia is currently undertaking a program to repatriate several thousand West Papuan freedom activists living in Papua New Guinea. The West Papuans have been living PNG since they left their homeland during their struggle for political freedom over the last 30 years – and have called PNG home.
Presenter: Firmin Nanol
Jayapura – The first phase of the repatriation of Papuans from Papua New Guinea (PNG) is scheduled to begin by the end of this year, after all the facilities had been prepared.
"I think this year will see the start of the repatriation, because the project had been delayed several times since 2006," Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu said in Jayapura Thursday.
Heru Andriyanto – A court showdown between a Papuan tribe and US mining giant Freeport McMoRan resumed on Thursday after negotiations to settle the dispute out of court collapsed, a lawyer said.
Timika – Members of two warring tribes in Timika, Mimika regency, Papua, the Amungme and Kei tribes, clashed at around 2:30 a.m. local time Thursday at the Kampung Kodok complex in Kwamki Baru district, Mimika, on Thursday.
A group of West Papuans and their supporters have called on the Australian government to help mediate a settlement over the province of West Papua.
Thousands of West Papuans have turned out in rallies in Indonesia's Papua demanding international help in mediating a political settlement between Jakarta and a new so-called West Papua Transitional Authority.
Reports indicate that the rallies in Sorong, Manokwari and Jayapura drew between five and ten thousand people.
Timika, Papua – Vice President-elect Boediono, making his first ever visit to troubled Papua, said here on Monday that development in the region would be given special attention by the incoming administration.
Problems in Indonesia's Papua province include security at the Freeport mine, high HIV rates, fast-shifting demographics and the ongoing conflict between the Free Papua Movement – known as OPM – and Indonesian security forces.
Some say, all these factors amount to a "slow-motion genocide" of local West Papuans. But is this being too dramatic?
Presenter: Sen Lam
Classes at some schools in Papua's Mimika district have been at a standstill for the past few months because their teachers are stuck in Timika city.
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-121-2009
Dear friends,
Jakarta – A security guard was wounded in a shooting near Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc's Grasberg mine in Indonesia's Papua province, a company spokesman said on Wednesday, the latest in a series of attacks in the area.
Hunger Alert Case: AHRC-HAC-006-2009
Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission on Wednesday said it had received information that the death toll from famine continues to rise in Yahukimo, Papua, even as some government officials denied the existence of any famine.
AHRC said 113 villagers had now died of famine and related diseases since January.
Markus Makur, Timika, Papua – A soldier and a police officer were injured when a military vehicle was shot by an unidentified man on Wednesday at the mining site of US mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia in Papua, a military spokesman has said.
Camelia Pasandaran – A team from the State Ministry for People's Welfare is slated to visit Yahukimo, Papua, to find out what is happening in the district, where at least 92 people have reportedly died this year from hunger.
West Papuan people are hopeful that the re-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will fulfil his election promise to resolve the West Papuan issue. A promise, he did not fulfil in his fist term in office.
Jakarta – Human right activists are urging the government to initiate a dialogue with representatives of various groups in Papua to find a peaceful solution to violence and separatism in the resources-rich province.
The spokesman for the military wing of the Papua separatist group, the West Papua National Liberation Army, has been arrested by Indonesian police on subversion charges.
Markus Makur, Timika – At least two people were injured as a group of unidentified persons attacked a PT Freeport Indonesia security bus on Saturday at Mile 42, both of whom were rushed to the Kuala Kencana clinic for intensive care, a police officer has said.
Markus Makur, Timika – Monolithic mining company PT Freeport Indonesia should be forthright on the problems taking place within its concession area, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said Thursday.
Markus Makur, Timika – Despite an increase in the number of security officers guarding PT Freeport Indonesia's mine in Timika, Papua, a military car was shot at by unknown gunmen in the area on Wednesday.
Markus Makur, Timika – The All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) of US mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia has submitted an official proposal to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) asking for protection following a series of shootings by unknown gunmen.
Union secretary Ronny G. Kadrun gave the letter to commission member Nur Kholis in Tembagapura on Thursday.
Mimika – Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie presented government housing assistance Tuesday to former members of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) in the Pegunungan Bintang and Lanny Jaya regencies of Papua.
John Pakage & Antara – At least 600 soldiers have arrived in Timika, Papua, to tighten security around PT Freeport Indonesia's mining site after a series of deadly attacks on the company's employees, a police officer said on Tuesday.
"The troops will help Timika Police maintain the outer ring of security," Papua Police spokesman Chief Comr. Agus Rianto said on Tuesday.
The operators of major resource extraction projects in the Indonesian province of Papua could face tough criminal penalties if they are found to have caused excess levels of environmental pollution.
Seven suspects from Timika in Indonesia's Papua are set to face trial over recent shootings near the Grasberg mine run by mining giant Freeport.
Police have handed dossiers of the seven over to the Timika Prosecutor's Office which may press charges over the recent wave of shootings which have targetted Freeport staff convoys and claimed three lives.
Markus Makur, Jayapura – The Papua Police Office has handed over to the Timika Prosecutor's Office dossiers of seven people accused of being involved in a riot at the US-mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia that claimed the lives of at least two workers.
The Indonesia Human Rights Committee has written to New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully urging him to ask the Indonesian Government to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to reopen its office in Papua.
The Red Cross was forced to shut its office and leave Papua earlier this year after its staff members visited prisoners in jail.
A conference in Dili to mark the tenth anniversary of East Timor's independence from Indonesia has demanded an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the killings of Papuan political leaders and human rights activists.
At least 600 army officers will help secure the working areas of the PT Freeport Indonesia mine in Timika, Papua, starting on September 2, following a number of armed attacks on the site.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Eight years after the introduction of "special autonomy" scheme developed by the central government for Papua and West Papua, major problems remain, with much of the regions population yet to see intended improvements to their social welfare, a discussion concluded recently.
The man who led President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's campaign team in Papua for the July presidential election urged the government on Sunday to pay more attention to the province, where he said conditions were becoming "more and more precarious."
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Scores of residents seeking compensation for land they claim was taken away from them, closed down the Sentani Airport in Jayapura on Friday, suspending flights for about two hours.
Nurfika Osman – The company uniform at the world's largest copper-and-gold mine in Papua is looking decidedly more severe these days.
Amid a spate of roadside ambushes from gunmen over the last few months, employees of PT Freeport Indonesia have started wearing flak jackets and helmets, the company's spokesman said on Friday.
Jakarta – Drivers working for the US-based company PT Freeport Indonesia have demanded a security guarantee in the wake of shootings near Grasberg mine in Mimika, Papua, in recent months.
Close to a hundred drivers are gathering Thursday morning at a bus terminal near Timika Airport, where Freeport management representatives have arrived to meet them.