Additional police and military forces are being sent to beef up security along a road in Papua that has seen a string of deadly attacks in recent days.
"We have decided to increase enforcement measures to restore security," said National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Sulistyo Ishak on Thursday. He did not disclose how many 'special forces' would be sent.
Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – Indonesia is deploying police special forces to US-based Freeport's gold mine – the world's largest – after a wave of shootings at the remote facility, a police official said Thursday.
Tom Allard, Jakarta – Workers at the Freeport-McMoran gold and copper mine have been ordered to stay at home after another series of shootings on the road where an Australian, Drew Grant, was murdered over the weekend.
Fidelis E. Satriastanti – After feeling exploited and ignored for more than three decades, the Papuan Amungme tribe have filed a lawsuit against the government, Coordinating Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie and the operator of one of the largest mining sites in the world, PT Freeport Indonesia, a lawyer said on Thursday.
New York – The visiting speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly has asked the US government not to support the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM).
Hidayat Nur Wahid, speaking in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, said he had asked the United States to assist Indonesia in developing its democracy without providing support to the OPM.
Anthony Deutsch, Jakarta – Deadly ambushes at the world's largest gold mine likely stem from rivalries between Indonesian police and military forces who compete for millions in illegal profits for protecting the industry, analysts said.
Although the TNI commander Djoko Santoso claims the Free Papua Movement (OPM) was likely behind shooting attacks in West Papua on the weekend, it was reported in the Jakarta Globe (14 July) by Papua's provincial police chief Bagus Ekodanto "that there was no evidence the OPM or anyone else in particular was involved, but noted that the attackers appeared to be well trained".
Dicky Christanto and Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The National Police and the Army have deployed officers to investigate a recent series of attacks in the vicinity of PT Freeport Indnonesia's Grasberg gold and copper mine in Papua.
Geoff Thompson, Jakarta – Papua's police chief has denied bullets were removed from the body of murdered Australian Drew Grant before an autopsy was performed in Jakarta.
Mr Grant, 29, was shot in Papua on a road to the Freeport Mine on Saturday.
Aubrey Belford, Jakarta – A series of killings in the remote highlands of Indonesia's Papua region have thrown a spotlight on the murky history of a massive US-owned mine sitting atop the world's biggest haul of gold.
Jakarta – The Mimika District Legislative Council (DPRD) in Papua Province has condemned the shooting incidents which occurred in an area controlled by US mining company PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) on Sunday (July 11) and Monday (July 12).
Farouk Arnaz, Christian Motte & April Aswadi – Autopsy results show that the victims of the weekend killings near Timika in Papua were shot with 5.56-millimeter caliber weapons. But a police investigator said on Monday that this information would not help determine who the perpetrators might be.
Farouk Arnaz & April Aswadi – While publicly agreeing to cooperate in a joint operation to find the perpetrators of the deadly weekend ambushes near the US miner Freeport McMoRan's complex in Papua, military and police officials publicly disagreed on Tuesday about who was responsible for them.
Some Papuan police sources are blaming the shootings on the Free Papua Movement, but one rebel representatives has denied involvement.
Tony Eastley: It's been a weekend of deadly violence in the troubled Indonesian province of Papua.
On Saturday, a Melbourne man, Drew Grant, was shot to death and yesterday a security guard was killed in the same area. And several members of a police anti-terrorism squad investigating the Australian's murder were injured.
Peter Cave: The death toll from a weekend of violence in Papua has now risen to three.
Police have confirmed that another Freeport mine security guard has been found dead. The body was found roughly 20 kilometres from where 29-year-old Australian Drew Grant was killed on Saturday and where another Freeport guard was shot dead yesterday.
Nurfika Osman – The Armed Forces on Sunday again denied that it was still receiving payments from US mining company Freeport McMoran to provide security around the giant Grasberg mine, which was the scene of two deadly attacks over the weekend.
Jayapura – A security guard employed at the huge Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia's Papua province was shot dead and several police officers wounded in two separate shootings on Sunday, a mine official and police said.
Tom Allard, Jakarta – A Melbourne man has been shot dead near the giant Freeport mine in Indonesia's Papua province in an apparent sniper attack.
Timika – Gunmen using military-issue weapons pre-planned an ambush that killed an Australian mine worker in Indonesia's restive Papua province, police have said.
Jakarta – Security forces arrested three separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) members following a firefight in the district of Anatowai, Yapen, Papua, Saturday afternoon.
The firefight occurred at around 11 am local time, the Indonesian military (TNI) spokesman, Rear Marshal Sagom Tamboen, told Antara.
Jakarta – Security agencies should conduct a professional investigation into the fatal shooting on Saturday of Drew Nicholas Grant, an Australian working for PT Freeport in Papua, a Papuan community figure said.
Jakarta – An Australian worker has been shot dead near the massive Grasberg mine in Indonesia's Papua province run by a unit of Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc, Papua's police chief said on Saturday.
Reports from Indonesia's Papua say continuing clashes with anti-terrorist police in Kapeso of Mamberamo Raya district have left at least four Papuans dead.
The Antara news agency reports that three members of the OPM Free West Papua movement have surrendered to the local police command this week.
Arientha Primanita – The National Police chief said on Wednesday four men had been arrested over attacks on polling stations in Papua's Yapen Waropen and Timika districts on the eve of Wednesday's presidential election.
Papuan independence activists are calling for a mass boycott of tomorrow's Indonesian presidential election.
The vice-president of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, Dr Otto Ondawame, says a sign of opposition, Papuans are advised to hold sit-ins and to pray.
In a letter to the Australian Prime Minister, Australian-West Papuan support groups have called on the Prime Minister to cease all ties between the Australian military and the Indonesian special forces.
The Indonesia Human Rights Committee has written individually to the 16 Pacific Island Heads of Government to urge them to make West Papua a priority for discussion and action at the August Pacific Islands Forum in Cairns.
Angela Flassy, Jayapura – Papuan activist Bucthar Tabuni was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison for "provocation" at a pro-independence demonstration last year.
Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – In what seems to be a last minute decision, television news network Al-Jazeera English decided not to premiere on Thursday a highly-sensitive documentary highlighting the plight of Papuans. It also removed the film's synopsis from the list of feature films it will broadcast, which is published on its website.
Nurfika Osman – Continued dialogues between religious and tribal leaders from Papua and Jakarta are necessary to bring about a mutual understanding that would lead to peace in the restive province, religious leaders said on Thursday.
Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – News TV-channel Al Jazeera English will broadcast an Australian documentary highlighting the plight of Papuans that will likely upset the Indonesian government. It will be premiered on July 2.
Previously secret US State Department documents implicate the President of Indonesia in a probable cover-up of an ambush in West Papua.
The documents show Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is running for reelection on July 8, maneuvering behind the scenes to manage the investigation into the August 2002 murder of three teachers-one Indonesian and two US citizens.
TAPOL has today called on the British Government to suspend its plan to conduct training for Kopassus, Indonesia's special forces, in October this year in view of reports of abuses perpetrated by members of the force in Merauke, province of Papua.
Tom Hyland – New details of secret Australian surveillance of Indonesia's Papua province have emerged, revealing that Australian officials believed Indonesian military weapons were used in the murder of two US citizens.
Documents show the officials told US diplomats within hours of the 2002 shooting that automatic Steyr rifles were used.
In light of the latest Human Rights Watch report with accusations that members of elite special forces, Kopassus, had acted with impunity in Papua to detain, torture and beat up ordinary citizens, the Australia West Papua Association (Sydney) calls on the new Defence Minister, John Faulkner, to halt all ties and training with the Indonesian military,
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Indonesia's controversial special forces, which are trained by Australia, have been accused of new human rights abuses in the troubled province of Papua.
In a report by US-based Human Rights Watch, off-duty members of the elite Kopassus branch of the Indonesian army are said to have tortured and abused Papuans.
Tom Allard, Jakarta – Human Rights Watch has urged Australia to cut ties with Indonesia's feared special forces group Kopassus after new evidence that it is terrorising civilians in West Papua.
It also urged the Indonesian Government to thoroughly investigate the behaviour of Kopassus officers.
Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Reuters – The military struck back bitterly on Thursday against accusations that members of elite special forces had acted with impunity in Papua to detain, torture and beat up ordinary citizens.
Adam Gartrell – A new report calls on Australia to cut off ties with Indonesia's feared special forces group Kopassus over new evidence it is terrorising civilians in Papua.
The Human Rights Watch report says Kopassus plucks Papuans from streets and homes, without legal authority, and subjects them to brutal beatings and torture.
Sunanda Creagh, Jakarta – Members of Indonesia's elite military special forces, Kopassus, have acted with legal impunity in Papua to detain, torture and beat up ordinary citizens, Human Rights Watch said in a report published on Thursday.
Farouk Arnaz – A hit-and-run ambush on a group of elite Mobile Brigade police officers has left one officer dead in the latest violence to hit troubled Papua.
Wednesday's attack in the rugged Puncak Jaya district is the latest in the Tingginambut area, in which an increasingly infamous group of pro-independence rebels are believed to be active.
Melbourne – Five Australians made an emotional return after a nine-month ordeal in which they were detained by Indonesian authorities for flying their light plane into a sensitive province.
Jakarta – Indonesia is investigating the shooting of a teenager at a military post on the Papua border, but dismissed allegations of police abuse during recent raids in the province, officials said on Tuesday.
Jakarta – Thirteen-year-old Isak Pesakot, a Papuan resident who was reportedly shot by an Indonesian Military (TNI) soldier near the Papua New Guinea (PNG) border in Papua on Monday, is in critical condition, not dead as previously reported.
Training will go in one ear and out the other if the government does not make it clear to Kopassus that it will have zero tolerance for abuses by its soldiers. - Brad Adams, Asia director
American Samoa's US Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin says he drove moves to drop provisions on Indonesia's Papua from a Foreign Relations Bill in the US House of Representatives.
An Australian-based NGO is calling on Pacific Island leaders to go public over the intimidation of the indigenous people of the Indonesian region of Papua.
The Australia West Papua Association says the situation in West Papua has continued to deteriorate with increasing intimidation of the people by the Indonesian security forces.
Jakarta – A thirteen year old resident of Keerom Regency in Papua Province was shot to death by Indonesian military personnel patrolling the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea on Monday afternoon (22/6).
Adam Gartrell – Five Australians trapped in Indonesia's Papua province for more than nine months expect to fly home on Wednesday after authorities thwarted their plans to leave on Tuesday.