ASSOCIATED PRESS, Tuesday September 3, 2002 11:31 PM ET
Separatists from Indonesia's Papua province call for U.S. to help
investigate ambush of foreign workers
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS - The non-violent separatist movement in Indonesia's Papua
province called for an independent commission with U.S. participation to investigate
an ambush of foreign workers, saying preliminary evidence indicates the attack was a
provocation by the Indonesian military to wreck a fragile peace process.
"The location, the methods and arms used, and eyewitness accounts all support this
view," Mohammad Thaha Al Hamid, secretary general of the Papuan Presidium
Council, said in an interview Tuesday with several reporters.
But he said the council wants an international commission to investigate as quickly
as possible to determine who was responsible â€" the military or separatist rebels.
"Until this investigation is completed the Papuan Council urges that the United States
not give any assistance to the Indonesian military," Al Hamid said.
On Saturday, a group of gunmen attacked a convoy carrying teachers from a school
at the Grasberg copper and gold mine, about 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles) east of
Jakarta. Two Americans and an Indonesian were killed and 10 others wounded.
Maj. Gen. I Made Pastika, the provincial police chief, said Tuesday it remained
unclear who was behind the attack, but stressed there was no evidence that
international terrorists were involved. Al Hamid said any allegation that foreign
terrorists were responsible was "a big lie ... to flatter Washington so that they'll give
military assistance to Indonesia."
Indonesian officials have said they suspect separatist rebels who have been fighting a
low-level insurgency since the vast territory on New Guinea island was forcibly
incorporated into Indonesia following the collapse of Dutch colonial rule in 1963.
Pastika said police believe the killers came from a nearby village.
But separatists from the Free Papua Movement have denied any role in the roadside
ambush. They have urged the government to allow an independent investigation into
the incident, which Al Hamid said took place just 100 meters (yards) from an army
commando post.
The Papuan Presidium Council wanted to stress that for 40 years "no foreigners have
been killed by the people engaged in armed struggle for the freedom of Papua," he
said.
Al Hamid said the weapons used in the attack were modern weapons, which to his
knowledge the rebels don't possess, and he said the army must bear some
responsibility because the ambush was so close to one of its posts.
The commission should be formed by the parties that have an interest in the area
where the ambush took place â€" the mining company, but particularly the U.S.
government on behalf of the American victims, Al Hamid said.
The council will make an official request for U.S. participation on a commission in the
near future through the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, he said.
Al Hamid noted, however, that Indonesia turned down a request from the United
States and the European Union for an independent investigation into the murder of
independence leader Theys Eluay, who was the council's president. He was
kidnapped and strangled in November after a dinner with senior military officers.
Indonesian prosecutors have identified 10 special forces soldiers as suspects in the
case.
Al Hamid has been in the United States since late August as a guest of the U.S.
State Department and has held talks with U.S. government officials.
Papua, which is Indonesia's largest province by area, comprises 21 percent of the
country's land mass, but is home to only 1 percent of its population. Separatists
claim that Papua gained independence from Dutch rule on Dec. 1, 1961. The Papuan
Council favors dialogue over violence in pressing for an independent homeland.
Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
