Eight Indonesian soldiers and four civilians were killed in two separate shooting incidents in the remote Highlands regency, for which military chiefs have blamed the separatist OPM Free West Papua Movement.
Following the shootings, Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government would use a welfare-based approach rather than a military one to keep the peace in Papua.
But Jim Elmslie of Sydney University’s West Papua Project fears the violence will grow.
“The whole province of West Papua is highly militarised now
which might well have helped to lead to this escalation in the conflict.
Obviously, there are a lot more weapons floating around and more dark forces
that are not under the government control or are conducting black operations. I
think the President’s words probably don’t carry much weight in the jungles of
West Papua.”
Jim Elmslie
News Content © Radio New
Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
West Papua appears to be a UN trust territory, a secret colony. The final test whether the 1962 agreement was a UN "trusteeship agreement" or not, is probably that it was the General Assembly and not the Security Council that authorised UN forces to occupy Papua under General Assembly resolution 1752 (XVII). Article 85 of the UN Charter is the one time that the General Assembly instead of the Security Council can direct UN forces.
ReplyDelete