Army, militia suspects in Freeport murders

Army, militia suspects in Freeport murders

Agencies, Jakarta

Army soldiers from Indonesia's Kopassus special forces were
involved in a deadly ambush on employees of the Freeport mine in
Papua, a human rights investigator alleged on Wednesday.

Two Americans and one Indonesian died in the Aug. 31 attack on
a mountain road leading to the American-owned Freeport copper and
gold mine. Twelve other Freeport employees, mostly Americans,
were wounded.

"The Kopassus are implicated in this incident. That's number
one," John Rumbiak of the Papua-based Institute for Human Rights
Study and Advocacy (Els-Ham) said in Jakarta.

Releasing the findings of Els-Ham's investigation of the
attack, John Rumbiak called on the U.S. government to launch its
own probe into the killings, in conjunction with Indonesian
authorities.

Papua Police chief Ins. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika, meanwhile,
said on Wednesday his officers were still trying to determine
which group was responsible for the bloody attack.

He said the police currently were scrutinizing the evidence,
including hundreds of spent bullets, firearms and a car.

Mangku said at least 200 bullets were fired at the bus during
the attack.

The officer also said he had received a letter from the Free
Papua Movement (OPM) denying it had any involvement in the
incident.

He, however, said the police had not dismissed the possibility
that the group was behind the shooting.

The Army has blamed the followers of Kelly Kwalik, a local
leader of the disorganized and poorly armed OPM, for the attack.

Several top generals have already ruled out military or police
involvement in the attack.

John Rumbiak, however, rejected the possibility of any OPM
involvement, saying he had based his findings on interviews with
witnesses, including an informant who claimed to have been in a
vehicle in the area with Kopassus members before the ambush.

The witness is now under police protection, Rumbiak said.

It is not clear if the actual shooters were Papuan members of
Kopassus or members of a Papuan militia group linked to the
military, he added.

Kopassus soldiers have also been implicated in the murder of
Theys Hiyo Eluay, chairman of the separatist Papua Presidium
Council which advocates peaceful dialog with Jakarta.

Eluay was found dead in his car last November.

Since June, the Military Police have been saying that several
Kopassus soldiers would soon be tried in the Eluay case, but no
trial has yet begun.

The Papua copper and gold mine, one of the largest in the
world, is operated by a local subsidiary of U.S.-based Freeport-
McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. It is considered a vital national
asset by the government and is heavily guarded by government
troops.

The massive outflow of revenue from the mine, combined with
human rights abuses linked to government security forces, has
provided fuel for widespread separatist sentiment among the
Papuan people.

Jakarta has granted the province special autonomy status,
which promises a greater share of revenue and respect for local
culture.