Police seize Papuan militia HQ

Police seize Papuan militia HQ

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya (JP): Police occupied on Sunday a
cultural center housing the headquarters of the Papuan taskforce
proindependence militia.

The security forces also rounded up 47 people during the
predawn takeover, but all were released later in the day except
for two who were charged with possessing weapons.

Irian Jaya Police chief Brig. Gen. Sylvanus Y. Wenas said the
raid on the Arts and Cultural Center went almost unchallenged, a
stark contrast to what happened in other provincial towns, where
clashes erupted between proindependence supporters and security
forces, leaving 10 dead on Friday and Saturday.

Most of the supporters were still sleeping inside the building
when the raid took place.

Wenas said five molotov cocktails, 10 sharp weapons and lots
of arrows, as well as posters of the Morning Star, broken
typewriters and proindependence literature, were seized from the
taskforce members.

As of Sunday evening dozens of police were seen guarding the
building, which was already sealed. Barbed wire and a tight
security cordon prevented people from approaching the site.

The seizure of the building, which has served as a
headquarters for the Papuan Taskforce for the past six months,
came almost 24 hours after a deadline to vacate the building ran
out.

"We had an agreement with independence leaders that they would
vacate the building by Dec. 2 but they were still occupying it,
so we seized it," Wenas said.

Supt. Daud Sihombing, chief of the Jayapura Police, said the
head of the Papuan Taskforce and son of detained Irian leader
Theys Hiyo Eluay, Boy Eluay, was among the 47 people arrested
during the raid.

Daud said Boy was arrested on an old case of extortion. He was
later released at dusk along with the other 45 Papuan Taskforce
members.

During the raid, police also detained a Swiss citizen,
identified as Iten Oswald Josef. Wenas said Josef had violated
the terms of his tourist visa by photographing the incident.

He said police had also detained several government employees
who had taken part in Friday's ceremony, when the Morning Star
separatist flag was raised in front of the cultural center.

A total of 61 people have been arrested since Wednesday, in
connection with the anniversary celebrations for the unrecognized
1961 Papuan declaration of independence.

Theys, who is also president of the Papua Presidium Council,
the council's secretary-general, Muslim figure Thaha Moh. Alamid,
and executives Don Flassy and Jhon Mambor, were all arrested on
either Wednesday and Thursday on subversion charges.

Five proindependence supporters were also arrested following
Friday's clash in Fakfak, some 600 kilometers west of Jayapura,
in which two civilians were shot dead by riot police.

Antara reported on Sunday the five arrested were Lukas Iha,
Aser Sagas, Isak Baho, Dance Ek, and Lukas Tenau, all of whom
were being held on charges of illegal possession of firearms.

Police opened fire on Friday at dozens of local residents who
were destroying an international-standard swimming pool in
Brongkendik village.

Apolos Krisful and Locus Woy were killed in the incident,
while two other residents Gerson Hindom and Esay Way were
severely wounded. The injured are being treated at the local
hospital.

Fakfak Police chief Supt. Totok Kasmiarto defended the
shooting, saying it was in self-defense after the residents
attacked the security forces. He said the police were still
searching for 70 more suspects involved in the clash.

Following Saturday's incident in Merauke, Wenas said the town
was deleted from the list of five places where the Morning Star
was allowed to fly because rioters there had attacked the
security forces and settlers, killing at least one migrant, and
had also pulled down and burned the national red-and-white flag.

The situation in natural resource-rich Irian Jaya, the
country's largest province with a mere two million population,
was generally quiet and peaceful on Sunday.

Three Navy warships were seen docking in Porasko Naval Base in
Jayapura, just 200 meters away from the cultural center. People
thronged around the base out of curiosity.

Riot police also set up roadblocks at all access points to the
cultural center.

Meanwhile, leaders of the central highlands-based Penis Gourd
Council of Elders (DMK), an organization that takes its name from
the traditional penis gourds worn by members of the Dani tribe
and introduced by Papua presidium council deputy leader Tom
Beanal as "the hardline members of the presidium," said their
approach from now on would be two-pronged.

"We will use guerrilla tactics through the Free Papua Movement
(OPM), and dialogue with the central government through the Papua
Presidium," Petrus Tabuni, a district leader of the council, told
AFP.

"The OPM, from hideouts in the jungle, will attack Indonesian
soldiers and any non-Papuans who conspire with them to hide them
or their weapons," Tabuni said.

He said that should the soldiers hide within the population,
the OPM and the DPK fighters, named after the traditional male
outfits of the Dani tribe, would not only target soldiers but
also all non-Papuans.

"We Dani people tolerate non-Papuans, but brutal military
actions anger the Papuan people which can cause them to kill
anyone including civilians."

Hans Yoweni, district commander of the OPM in Bonggo, 120
kilometers (74 miles) west of here, declared his disgust with the
presidium's moderate approach. (02/emf)