[AFP]
Indonesia designated Papuan separatist rebels as a terrorist group Thursday after they killed an army general, a policeman and four civilians this month, but observers warned the move could inflame tensions and lead to human rights abuses.
Violence by separatist insurgents in the Papua region fit the definition of terrorism under amendments to the country’s anti-terror law that were passed in 2018, said Mohammad Mahfud MD, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs.
“We are treating organizations and people who commit massive violence in Papua as terrorists,” Mahfud told a news conference as he announced the designation.
AFP
Nine separatist rebels and a policeman were killed in fighting in Indonesia’s Papua province, officials said Wednesday, after Jakarta vowed to come down hard on the insurgents who killed the government’s regional intelligence chief – an army brigadier general – on Sunday.
Fighting broke out between government security forces and the insurgent group in Puncak regency on Tuesday, said Iqbal Alquddusy, spokesman for Operation Nemangkawi, a joint military-police task force to hunt down the Papuan rebels.
“Based on our findings on the ground during a firefight at the hideout of the Lekagak Telenggen criminal group, it is clear that nine of them were shot dead,” Iqbal told BenarNews. He was referring to Lekagak Telenggen, the general operations commander for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement separatist organization.
Editorial
Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo ordered security forces to scale up their campaign against armed rebel groups in Papua after an intelligence chief was shot and killed in an ambush on April 26.
General I Gusti Putu Danny Karya Nugraha, head of Papua’s regional intelligence agency, was shot by armed attackers from the West Papua Liberation Army, the military arm of the Free Papua Movement.
Fighting between armed rebels and state forces broke out on April 8, after the West Papuan Liberation Army killed two teachers and at least two other civilians who the group says were working as government informants.
Indonesian Presidential Palace via AP
Indonesia’s president ordered a crackdown against Papuan rebels Monday after insurgents killed an army general who headed the government’s intelligence operations in the region – the highest-ranking military officer to die in the decades-old separatist conflict.
Separatist rebels shot dead Brig. Gen. I Gusti Putu Danny Karya Nugraha, the head of the State Intelligence Agency’s (BIN) Papua region office, in an ambush on his convoy Sunday afternoon as he was visiting Beoga, a district in Puncak regency where the government has launched counter-insurgency operations, officials from both sides said.
“I have ordered the military and police chiefs to pursue and arrest members of the armed criminal group,” President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said in a televised statement.
KEY WITNESS IS THOUGHT TO BE IN THE HANDS OF KOPASSUS
The abduction and murder of Theys Hiyo Eluay, 64, the chairperson of the Papuan Presidium Council, is one of the consequences of the culture of militarism and impunity that has prevailed in West Papua (Irian Jaya) since it was annexed by Indonesia.
The history of violence dates back to the days of Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia, who proclaimed TRIKORA on 19 December 1961 in Yogyakarta. This called for the destruction of the Dutch Puppet State, for mass mobilization and for the red-and-white flag to be unfurled in West Irian. Many Papuans were intimidated and murdered in those times. Amnesty International estimates that some one hundred thousand Papuans have been killed during the 38 years of integration with Indonesia.