[Nasional-m] Fifteen alleged separatist rebels arrested in Papua

[Ambon]

The Jakarta Post
Sept. 2, 2002

Fifteen alleged separatist rebels arrested in Papua

JAKARTA (JP): Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu said on Monday that
security personnel had captured 15 alleged members of the Free Papua
Movement (OPM) separatist group, under the leadership of Kelly Kwalik, who
were responsible for the deadly ambush on a convoy of workers near Timika
over the weekend, agencies reported.
Two U.S. nationals and one Indonesian were killed in the attack, while nine
other Americans and three Indonesians were wounded. The victims were all
teachers at Tembagapura International School, which caters to employees of
PT Freeport Indonesia, the world's largest gold mine in Tembagapura,
operated by the U.S.-based giant Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold Inc.
Indonesia.
The U.S. nationals killed were identified as Edwin Leon Burcon, the
57-year-old school principal, and teacher Rickey Spear, 45.
Ryacudu said quoted by Antara that the police and a battalion of soldiers
had been deployed to the area around the ambush site to help hunt down the
assailants. One suspected rebel was killed in a clash on Sunday that also
left an Indonesian soldier wounded.
The Freeport gold mine has become a symbol of Indonesia's economic
exploitation of Papua (Irian Jaya), not to mention environmental degradation
of the remote province.
The OPM has fought for a separate nation in the predominantly Melanesian
Papua since the former Dutch colony of Western New Guinea became part of
Indonesia in 1964.
Kwalik's splinter group has been accused of kidnapping foreigners in the
past, but says it has never targeted them in their long struggle to win
independence for Papua from Indonesia.
In early 1996, the group abducted a group of international biologists --
including four Britons, two Dutch citizens and a German -- and kept them
hostage for five months before Indonesian elite troops launched a military
operation to free them.
Freeport has become one of Indonesia's biggest foreign investors since
opening the Grasberg mine in Papua in the early 1970s. It also brings in a
large amount of annual revenue for Jakarta.
Meanwhile, the vice director of Papuan rights group Elsham, Aloy Renwarin,
said Kwalik had denied involvement in the ambush.
"They told us through a courier that they have no knowledge of the attack,"
Renwarin told AFP by telephone from Papua, adding that "They said they don't
want violence and are committed to dialog."
Elsham is sponsoring peace talks between OPM and the government scheduled
for next month and Renwarin said Kwalik was ready for the dialog.
The pacifist pro-independence Papua Presidium Council accused the military
of trying to discredit the separatists by blaming the attack on OPM. It said
the rebel group had never targeted foreigners.
"It is becoming more and more evident that the Indonesian security forces
are involved in creating provocation and instigating violence," the
presidium said in a statement received on Monday.
"An attack on foreign nationals and on Freeport and consequently blaming the
OPM is on the one hand an effort to discredit the OPM as a terrorist
organization and on the other hand a warning to Freeport that it cannot
operate without the protection of the Indonesian Army," it said.
The presidium expressed "its grave sorrow and sincere regret" and called for
an international independent team to investigate the case.