The Jakarta Post, 3/26/2003 12:37:47 PM
Papuan separatist leader John Mambor dies
JAKARTA (JP): A Papuan separatist leader has died here after a long illness, his
colleague said Wednesday.
John Mambor, 56, died Sunday night after being treated at the Cikini Protestant
hospital for liver disease, said Paul Pelletimu, a Jakarta-based member of the Papua
Presidium.
"His body was flown to Papua on Monday and was buried on Tuesday," he told AFP.
Mambor, along with the late Theys Hiyo Eluay, was one of the leaders of the
presidium which wages a peaceful campaign for Papua to split from Indonesia.
Both men were jailed for raising the banned separatist Morning Star flag in Papua on
December 1 in 1998 and 1999. Separatists claim that is the day the province gained
independence from the Dutch.
Theys was murdered in November 2001. He was allegedly suffocated by the Army's
Kopassus special forces soldiers for the killing.
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