The Age [Australia], February 27 2003
Army link to militant unrest
By John Martinkus, Jayapura, Papua
The border between the Indonesian province of Papua and Papua New Guinea has
become a no-go area for Indonesian police and human rights workers, according to
human rights and independence groups.
The groups say the border is home to Indonesian army-run training camps for Islamic
militants and Papuan militia groups.
They say the militant groups are being used by the Indonesian Army's special forces,
Kopassus, to foment conflict between Christian Papuans and Muslim settlers from
elsewhere in Indonesia.
According to Lawrence Mehui from the pro-independence Papuan Presidium Council,
Kopassus had built four training camps in border areas, just 40 kilometres from the
provincial capital, Jayapura.
He recently completed a report on the activity for the council and said that since last
November Kopassus had conducted meetings in villages to recruit people. He said
that in January, Kopassus began recruiting people in the large transmigrant
settlements around the town of Arso, south of Jayapura. "There is a direct connection
between the Islamic groups and the military because all the weapons used are
military standard," Mr Mehui said.
Johannes Bonay, director of the human rights group Elsham, said the situation had
deteriorated with the formation by Kopassus of what are called operational support
groups, recruited from Laskar Jihad Islamic militants and local Papuans.
Mr Bonay's wife and daughter were seriously wounded on December 28 when
unidentified gunmen ambushed the vehicle they were travelling in between the border
posts of Papua and PNG. An Indonesian police investigation team that went to the
border on January 1 was also shot at and forced to leave.
Since then Elsham had been unable to carry out investigations in the area and Mr
Bonay said he had received death threats.
A preliminary police investigation identified the Indonesian military as being in the area
when the shooting occurred.
"If we analyse the reports made by the people and the investigation made by the
police, we can divine that Kopassus is behind this," Mr Bonay said. Elsham was
among the first to blame the military for the ambush on August 31 last year that killed
two Americans and one Indonesian, employees of the Freeport gold and copper mine.
Elsham has tracked the arrival of Laskar Jihad in Papua over the past two years,
beginning around the western town of Sorong where 12 training camps, guarded by
the military, were identified by Elsham investigations last year.
Sorong is only nine hours by boat from the Indonesian island of Ambon and as the
sectarian conflict there subsided last year, 3000 Laskar Jihad members were reported
travelling to Papua.
Last Friday a Pakistani national was arrested in Sorong in possession of 10 explosive
devices, raising fears that the Laskar Jihad had international connections.
The arrest was just one more incident in a string involving weapons and explosive
devices in Sorong that began in 2001.
The establishment of Laskar Jihad and militia training camps on the border has
increased clashes with Free Papua Movement fighters.
Copyright © 2002 The Age Company Ltd
|
