Combat troops pulled out from Timika

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces has withdrawn 270 combat troops from the Irian Jaya regency of Timika where one person was killed and five others went missing during recent pro-independence demonstrations.

The troops left Timika -- where operations of the giant American copper and gold mining company, PT Freeport Indonesia are sited -- on Monday and arrived in the Irianese capital of Jayapura later that same day, a spokesman for the Trikora Regional Military Command said.

Antara said the withdrawal came as the result of a promise made by Trikora Regional Military Commander Maj. Gen. Amir Sembiring, who said last week that ABRI was changing its approach in the country's easternmost province. He said that where once the military carried weapons, they would now wield ploughs to help residents cultivate crops and improve their welfare.

Sembiring said this had become possible because of the relative improvement in security in the region.

The military said the troops would be given a week to adapt to their new posting before being assigned to villages in Jayapura regency and Jayapura municipality to carry out public services.

They will no longer be assigned to protect the area from armed rebels known as wild security disturbance groups (GPL) but will live together with villagers to help develop the rural economy as part of broader efforts to improve their welfare, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, a group of rights activists said they had begun looking into the arrest of 10 local people allegedly involved in pro-independence demonstrations in Wamena on July 2. The 10 were said to be have taken part in the hoisting of the outlawed West Papua flag, according to Tulus Wahyono from the Legal Aid Institute.

Tulus said his office had received reports from local people that security forces arrested 35 people from Aug. 6-10, 10 of whom were detained by the Wamena Police.

The 10, he said, include retired local government employees, airline company employees, an elementary school teacher and a number of unemployed people.

Jayawijaya Police chief Lt. Col. Ipong S. has confirmed that a number of people were arrested but refused to reveal their identities or explain why they had been detained.

When asked by Antara about this, Irian Jaya Police chief Brig. Gen. Hotman Siagian said he had not yet received a report on the matter. (swe)