PNG increases security near Irian Jaya

PNG increases security near Irian Jaya

SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters): Papua New Guinea said on Monday it had stepped up patrols along its jungle border with troubled Irian Jaya and would repatriate people back to the Indonesian province.

Indonesian police shot dead seven pro-independence supporters in a remote area near the Papua New Guinea border on Saturday when Irianese tore Indonesian flags and attacked with bows and arrows after police pulled down the independence "Morning Star" flag.

"We are forced to be on alert," Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta said in announcing the increased border security.

An anti-Indonesia rebel movement has been simmering for decades in Irian Jaya which lies at the eastern end of the huge archipelago, about 3,700 km from Jakarta.

Morauta said it would be difficult to guard the Irian Jaya border, a mountainous region home to primitive societies, with one area only relatively recently emerging from the Stone Age.

"We will have to be selective in where we monitor the border because it is a fairly large area and very difficult to control where they come across," Morauta said.

He stressed that despite cultural ties with Irian Jaya, his government respected the sovereignty of its neighbor Indonesia. "We want to assure the government of Indonesia that while we are doing our best, there is certain to be overflows onto our side of the border, and to ensure (Jakarta) we will do all we can to make sure it isn't used to mount an attack," he said.

"We do respect the sovereignty and integrity of the state that is Indonesia. What is happening in Indonesia right now is a domestic matter," Morauta told reporters in Sydney.

Reuters Television recently received footage showing separatists training within Papua New Guinea. The footage showed camouflaged separatists, wearing the "Morning Star" badge, drilling with machine guns in a muddy jungle village. Some wore bones through their noses and palm-fringed headgear.

Morauta did not rule out possibly accepting refugees at a later date, with the help of the United Nations.

"We might be forced to provide that (refugee status)," he said.

Earlier this year, Indonesia began a secret campaign to hang on to Irian Jaya using a mixture of hardline tactics, persuasion and clandestine operations.