BBC, Monday, 10 April 2006, 18:29 GMT 19:29 UK
Four die in Papua militant attack
By Clare Harkey, BBC East Asia regional editor
An attack on an army post in Indonesia's Papua province has left two soldiers and two
civilians dead, police say.
Some 30 men armed with a Kalashnikov, bows, arrows and spears attacked the post
near the Papua New Guinea border.
Police blame the attack on one of the small separatist groups fighting to end
Indonesian rule in Papua.
It is the latest serious incident in recent weeks amid a sporadic separatist insurgency
going on for decades.
The incident comes just under a month after four policemen and a soldier were killed
during a demonstration against the vast US-owned gold and copper mine in the
province.
Critics of the Freeport McMoRan mine - Indonesia's largest single taxpayer - say it
damages the environment and brings few benefits to local people.
Diplomatic spat
There is also a major disagreement between the governments of Indonesia and
Australian after Canberra granted temporary protection visas to 42 Papuans who
arrived in Australia in January by boat.
They said they had been victims of Indonesian repression in the province.
The authorities in Jakarta are desperate to avoid these incidents escalating into a
full-blown separatist conflict.
They also deny persistent reports from human rights groups of abuses committed by
the military in Papua.
The president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has promised to sort out the problem and
visited the region last week.
But with the number of violent incidents increasing, any solution seems a long way
off.
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