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Date Posted: 13:49:20 04/30/02 Tue
Author: Buffy's vampire
Subject: Important news re Indonesia and Papua

A HUMAN rights group says that for the first time it has obtained documentary
evidence linking the Indonesian military with East Timor-style militias in the
eastern province of Papua, which is fighting for independence from Jakarta.

The Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (ELS-HAM) said that it was
concerned that the document, dated April 8, 2002, was part of a wider strategy
to increase anti-independence activity and provoke violence in a province still
traumatised by the murder of Theys Eluay, the pro-independence leader, last
November.

Three members of the Indonesian Army's Kopassus special forces have been
detained but not formally charged in the case.

Government-sponsored militias were used by Indonesia to try to destroy the
independence movement in East Timor at the time of the United Nations-sponsored
referendum in 1999.

"I'm very, very worried," said John Rumbiak, supervisor of ELS-HAM, a respected
Papuan human rights agency.

The three-page document, seen by The Times, contains the names of 80 farmers
who are listed as "Satgas Merah Putih candidates" from a village near Wamena in
the highlands of Indonesia's easternmost province. The document is signed by
the commander of the Wamena military district. Satgas Merah Putih, or the Red
and White Task Force, takes its name from the colours of Indonesia's flag.

Papua has a large British-American investment. Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold
Inc has invested £3billion in the world's second largest copper and gold mine.
However, it has been widely criticised for not taking the concerns of local
tribesmen into account.

After examining the militia document, the Indonesian military said that it was
simply a demographic tool for the local commander. "He must have demographic
data, and one of the forces there is Satgas Merah Putih," Lieutenant-Colonel
Achmad Yani said.

A day earlier, before seeing the document, he had denied that the
task force existed. Echoing language used by the Indonesian
military when it talked about militias in East Timor before its
referendum in 1999, Lieutenant-Colonel Yani said that the task
force had emerged from among the local population.

East Timor is preparing for full independence next month. Before
the territory's vote to separate from Indonesia, militia created
and backed by the Indonesian military had launched a campaign in
which more than 1,000 East Timorese were killed.

Human rights groups first gave warning two years ago that the task
force was operating in the Muslim-dominated Fakfak region of
Papua, a majority Christian province where support for
independence is widespread. Mr Rumbiak said that the group had now
spread to Wamena and Jayapura and also used the name Barisan Merah
Putih.

Mr Rumbiak said that he saw a group of them in Wamena last August,
but this is their first piece of documentary evidence.

ELS-HAM said that Satgas Merah Putih has conducted military-style
drills in the Wamena area, but there was no information on whether
the militia were armed.

By Ian Timberlake and Amy Chew in Jakarta

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