Exiled rebels want to return

Exiled rebels want to return

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: A number of leaders of a separatist
movement in Irian Jaya living in exile in Papua New Guinea have
written to Indonesian authorities asking that they be allowed to
return to their home town.

One is Nico Hipoko, a secretary to the defense minister of the
Free Papua Movement (OPM), said David Mahulette, an official of
the Indonesian consulate office in Vanimo, a town just inside the
Papua New Guinea border.

Nico in his letter said he joined the rebel forces and fled
Irian Jaya in 1984. Now he wants to return and resume his studies
at Cendrawasih University in Jayapura, according to Mahulette.

Indonesia will welcome anyone intending to return but
Mahulette said he could not guarantee that the university would
still accept Nico.

Mahulette added that the consulate had received similar
letters from numerous Irianese living in exile in Papua New
Guinea. (03)