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)