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This picture taken on February 12, 2019
shows Papuans at a temporary shelter in
Wamena, Indonesia’s Papua province. –
Hundreds of students have fled fighting in
Indonesia’s restive Papua province, a local
NGO said, amid unconfirmed reports of
violent military reprisals after a massacre
of civilian workers by separatist rebels.
(Photo by ANYONG / AFP)
Hundreds of students have fled fighting in
Indonesia’s restive Papua province, a local
NGO said, amid unconfirmed reports of
violent military reprisals after a massacre
of civilian workers by separatist rebels.
The death of 16 government-linked
employees at a remote jungle work camp in
early December, marked a dramatic
escalation from decades of mostly
sporadic skirmishes between poorly armed
and disorganised guerrillas and a powerful
Indonesian military.
Subsequent clashes prompted the Nduga
district government to evacuate more than
400 students to Wamena, the capital of
neighbouring Jayawijaya district, according
to Humanitarian Volunteers for Nduga and
a local education agency official.
“Some of the students are suffering from
trauma,” said Ence Geong, a coordinator at
the NGO, told AFP.
“When the military came to the school in
uniforms, some of the students ran” in
fear.
Scores of other residents are believed to
have fled to neighbouring districts or into
the jungle amid allegations soldiers carried
out arson, harassment and the killing of
livestock and civilians, residents and
activists said.
Local resident Sripona Nirigi told AFP her
elderly father Gemin — a priest — was shot
dead in December during a sweep of the
area by the military.
His burned corpse was found by one of her
siblings some two weeks later, she added.
Her account could not be independently
verified.
Papua military spokesman Colonel
Muhammad Aidi rejected allegations the
military had fired on civilians, calling it a
“hoax”.
“If there are claims of civilian victims,
they’re definitely not ordinary civilians,”
Aidi told AFP.
“They are part of the (separatists) that are
attacking the military.”
Aidi said the army had investigated the
alleged killing of the priest and denied he
was shot by soldiers, saying it was still
unclear whether he was alive or dead.
He added that two soldiers have been killed
and several more were injured in clashes
with rebels since the December massacre
of workers who were building bridges and
roads in Indonesia’s most impoverished
region.
The rebels claimed they were legitimate
military targets.
Local commander Binsar Sianipar
separately confirmed the students had
been evacuated but said it was due to a
teacher shortage in the area, not the
military presence.
Classes are being held in tents and the
children are staying in overcrowded
conditions at relatives’ houses, Geong said.
Some 80 teachers have joined them.
The military operations in Nduga have
displaced at least one thousand people,
according to lawyer and activist Veronica
Koman.
“Jakarta ordered the military operation, but
has been doing nothing to assist… civilians
(who are) now internally displaced
persons,” said Koman, who is in contact
with church leaders and activists in Papua.
“I’ve seen credible photos and videos of
burnt livestock and houses, including a sick
old man burnt inside a house.”
Indonesian security forces have long been
accused of rights abuses against Papua’s
ethnic Melanesian population including
extrajudicial killings of activists and arrest
of peaceful protestors.
Papua, which shares a border with the
island nation Papua New Guinea, just north
of Australia, has been the site of low-level
insurgency since the 1960s.
The former Dutch colony declared itself
independent in 1961, but neighbouring
Indonesia took control of Papua two years
later on the condition it hold an
independence referendum.
Jakarta annexed the mineral-rich region in
1969 with a UN-backed vote that is widely
seen as a sham.
Source:
guardian.ng/news/world/hundreds-
of-students-flee-violence-in-indonesias-
papua/