Jakarta – Kontras National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, Elsham Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy and National Solidarity for Papua formerly Irian Jaya (SNUP) lodged strong protests against plans made in a closed meeting held between People's Representatives Council (DPR) Commission I and the armed forces commander to impose civilian emergency s

Yogyakarta – The government said it has no plan to raise a civil emergency status on Papua, despite constant security problems in the country's easternmost province.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Saturday that any plan to declare civil emergency status for Papua needed to be considered thoroughly.

Charles Foster – It was predictable and depressing. Every year on December 1, West Papuan tribesmen, wearing penis gourds and cowrie necklaces, try to raise the Morning Star flag that signifies their independence from Indonesia. And every year the Indonesian police and army, commanded by men who won their spurs in East Timor, beat them and shoot them.

Jayapura – The Papua Police are preparing two-third of its personnel to guard the upcoming elections, a senior officer at the police headquarters said on Wednesday.

Tom Benedetti – A storm is quietly but rapidly gaining force in an overlooked corner of the world. Papua (formerly West Papua or Irian Jaya) is being ravaged in an escalating program of repression by the Indonesian military.

Jayapura – The plan by the People's Consultative Assembly Commission I urging the government and related partners to conduct a military operation in Papua for the sake of safeguarding the general elections has been opposed by a number of parties.

Makassar – The South Sulawesi High Prosecutor's Office said on Tuesday it had completed the case files of two police officers charged with human rights abuses in Papua province a month ago.

Prosecutors could not present the dossiers to an ad hoc court in Makassar, South Sulawesi, because the National Police had yet to hand over the two suspects to them for trial.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has started investigating alleged gross abuses in the Papua province last year and in 2001 and plans to summon 75 local witnesses to give testimony.

Led by Komnas HAM chairman Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, the commission's investigation teams have been in the province since January 12.

The Wamena District Court sentenced on Thursday two more civilians to 20 years in prison each for their roles in breaking into a military arsenal in Wamena last year and stealing rifles and ammunition.

Kel Dummett – For the many human rights organizations and individual activists around the world concerned about ongoing human rights violations in the province of Papua, the announcement (The Jakarta Post, January 10, 2003) that an ad hoc team with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will probe alleged gross violations of human rights in Papua, is great news.

Jakarta – A number of non-governmental organizations here on Tuesday called on the government to hold a national dialogue to end conflicts in eastern Papua province.

Jason MacLeod – On December 3, Indonesian security forces detained four West Papuan students for their part, two days earlier, in releasing West Papuan flags – known as the Morning Star – attached to balloons in the central Java town of Semarang.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – An ad hoc team with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will probe alleged gross violations of human rights in the province of Papua.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Following a public meeting held by the Papua provincial legislative council in December last year, the council will convey the outcome of it to President Megawati Soekarnoputri in Jakarta.

Jayapura – Two years after the implementation of the Law on Special Autonomy in West Papua, the level of human rights violations remains high. There has been no commitment from any parties to apply the Law on Special Autonomy consistently. Rather, this law is seen as disrupting the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).

Peter King – Ever since East Timor was "lost" in September 1999 the Indonesian military (TNI) have shown strong determination to hold the line against what they see as the next most credible threat of "separatism" in outlying provinces, the independence movement in (West) Papua/Irian Jaya.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Indonesia may lose Papua and Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam due to the possibility of a foreign conspiracy aimed at destroying the Unitary Republic of Indonesia (NKRI), the Army's chief of staff has said.

Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu said on Monday that Indonesia was facing the possibility of losing both provinces due to threats from modern warfare.

Jakarta – The Indonesian authorities said yesterday that the FBI had cleared the army of being involved in the killing of two Americans in Papua last year. However, the American Embassy declined to confirm the claim by military police chief A.B. Sulaiman.

Jayapura – The relocation of 13 inmates – convicted of involvement in the 2000 riot in Papua, in which at least 26 people were killed – from their prison in Wamena town, to a prison in East Java has been delayed due to security reasons.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Papuan people concluded a two-day meeting here on Tuesday, recommending that the central government speed up the establishment of the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) as mandated by the special autonomy law, and revoke controversial Law No. 45/1999 on the partition of the territory into three smaller provinces.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Nearly 1,000 Papuans from all walks of life began a two-day meeting sponsored by the local legislative council on Monday to seek a solution to the central government's controversial decision to split Papua into three provinces.

Tim Johnston, Jakarta – A report from an American university has accused Indonesia of crimes against humanity for its actions in the troubled eastern province of Papua, and has suggested that Jakarta may also be guilty of genocide.

David Usborne, New York – Sitting in the Deluxe Cafe on Broadway just south of Columbia University on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, John Rumbiak is far from his native land. Home is West Papua, a province of Indonesia the size of France which has suffered violence for nearly forty years.

Jason MacLeod – Abdul Teng is in his element. Teng is here to talk about his home, Gag Island in violence-ridden West Papua, the scene of a four-decade-long struggle for independence. The 56-square kilometre island is located 150km north-west of Sorong, one of hundreds of islets that make up the Raja Ampat Archipelago.

Jason MacLeod – On Wednesday 3rd of December Indonesian security forces detained four West Papuan students in relation to a nonviolent action two days earlier.

Nethy Darma Somba, Timika – A group of former East Timorese militiamen postponed a plan on Tuesday to open a branch office of their pro-integration Red-and-White Defenders Front (FPMP) in Papua province, following strong objections from the local people.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province, has reached an alarming level.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres is trying to set up a new group in Indonesia's Papua province that human rights groups fear may quickly become a militia used to attack suspected separatists.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres plans to establish a branch of his pro-integration Red and White Defender Front (FPMP) in troubled Papua province, but local people have opposed it.

Jakarta – FBI agents will come to Indonesia this week to investigate the killing of two Americans in remote Papua province last year that strained ties between Washington and Jakarta, officials said on Thursday.

Peter Kammerer – The Indonesian government's experiment with autonomy in the restive province of Papua has been dismantled by growing nationalism among the ruling elite in Jakarta, observers said yesterday.

The appointment of Indonesia's former East Timor police chief, Timbul Silaen, as the new police chief of West Papua and the involvement of notorious East Timor militia leader, Eurico Guterres, in a new West Papua militia group renew fears of increased instability and violence in the territory and are a triumph for impunity over justice, says Tapol the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign

Jakarta – Four FBI agents have been in Indonesia's Papua since early this week to probe the killing of two Americans in the remote province last year that strained ties between Washington and Jakarta, police said on Thursday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – A notorious East Timorese militia leader has formed a militia group in the mining town of Timika, a Papuan rights group reported yesterday.

In the Indonesian province of Papua, the appointment of a new police chief has been greeted with protests. Last year, Inspector General Timbul Silaen was charged and acquitted of human rights violations and crimes against humanity, relating to his time as police chief in East Timor.

Presenter/Interviewer: James Panichi

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The former leader of the most notorious of East Timor's militias, Eurico Guterres, claims he now heads an organisation with 18,000 members and funds to fight separatists in Indonesia's Papua province.

Jakarta – Indonesian police and troops cut down a separatist flag in Papua province on the anniversary Monday of an independence proclamation, activists said, but there were no immediate reports of violence.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Seven of 42 Papuans arrested on Thursday for flying the Morning-Star independence flag in Manokwari have been declared suspects and will be charged with treason under the Criminal Code, a police officer says.

Netty Dharma Somba & Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jayapura/Jakarta – Papuan human rights activists said they were prepared to support the planned investigation by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) into alleged atrocities in the province.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said on Friday that based on preliminary findings the Indonesian military (TNI) committed gross abuses in Papua in 2001 and 2003, and says it is launching a legal probe into the incidents.

Chris Brummitt, Jakarta – Indonesia's military promised Saturday to investigate claims that it carried out extra-judicial killings and torture in Papua province. But it warned that if the charges were not true, it would pursue legal action against the body that made them, the National Commission on Human Rights.

Laksamana.Net – Not content with murdering Papua province's passive independence leader Theys Eluay two years ago, Indonesian authorities have now destroyed part of a memorial dedicated to the slain activist.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Members of the Papuan Presidium Council (PDP) commemorated here on Tuesday the death of former charismatic PDP chairman Theys Hiyo Eluay, who was killed two years ago by Indonesian military personnel.

Greg Poulgrain – The Jakarta media yesterday strongly criticised Indonesian army personnel who shot dead nine Papuans in a pre-dawn raid in the highlands of West Papua.

Tim Johnston – Indonesia may be gearing up for a new offensive against separatist rebels in the restive eastern province of Papua, observers believe. Analysts in Jakarta have warned that the killing of 10 suspected members of the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) this week could be the first shots in a renewed campaign.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jayapura/Jakarta – Three more people were reported dead on Thursday, following an attack by unknown assailants in the Papua regency of Paniai, three days ago, bringing the total number of dead to four, with two others missing and three others in the hospital.

The separatist movement in Indonesia's Papua province took a major blow this week after the military claimed it killed 10 separatist rebels, including leader Yustinus Murib. But church leaders in Papua say they too have been targetted by the special forces, Kopassus, and subjected to surveillance, intimidation and even murder.

Rob Taylor, Jakarta – Indonesian special forces troops have ambushed and killed 10 alleged separatists in Papua, including a top rebel leader, after they attacked a village in the latest round of independence-linked fighting.

In Indonesia it's been claimed 10 separatist rebels, including a local leader, have been killed by special Kopassus troops in a pre-dawn raid in Papua. The military says it's killed the leader of the local Free Papua Movement (OPM) Yustinus Murib, in an ambush along with nine of his supporters.

Jakarta – At least 12 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and separatist rebels in Indonesia's troubled Papua province, local media reported on Wednesday.

Eight rebels were killed and several were injured after troops raided a camp in the Wamena region on Wednesday morning, an army officer told El-Shinta radio.