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)