Probe on human rights abuse in Papua to begin

Probe on human rights abuse in Papua to begin

Nethy Dharma Somba , The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua

An ad hoc team with the National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) will probe alleged gross violations of human rights
in the province of Papua.

The 15-member team, headed by Komnas HAM member Anshari
Thayib, will begin its inquiry on Jan. 12, when eight members of
the team arrive in Papua from Jakarta. One of the eight members
is Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, the chairman of the Komnas HAM.

Other members are from the Komnas HAM's Papua office.

The members will meet with the chief of Trikora Military
Command overseeing Papua province, followed by visits to the
chief of Papua Police, the speaker of the Papua legislative
council, the governor of Papua and religious, tribe and community
leaders.

The team will also visit the scene where the alleged
violations of human rights occurred, and will question the
victims and the witnesses.

Iwan K. Niode, an ad hoc team member in Papua, told The
Jakarta Post in Jayapura that one of the cases being handled by
Komnas HAM was related to the arms theft on April 4 last year in
Wamena, which resulted in the deaths of two soldiers and a
civilian.

The other was related to the Matoa Operation in 2000, when a
police outpost was attacked in Wondiboy Wasior area and five
Mobile Brigade personnel and a civilian were killed.

Iwan said that local residents had become victims in the
aftermath of the Wamena incident, as they had been forced to take
refuge in the jungle, to avoid armed conflict between the
Indonesian military (TNI) and the Papuan rebels.

Several houses, schools and places of worship were also razed
after the incident.

Residents of Sandraway village in Wondiboy Wasior were also
forced to flee to nearby villages, after clashes between police
personnel and rebels.

The ad hoc team was established in response to reports by the
local community and a visit by Komnas HAM to Papua in September
last year, Iwan said.

He explained, that of the seven alleged cases of severe human
rights abuses in Papua, it had been recommended that Komnas HAM
probe only two. Komnas HAM would not investigate the other five
cases, but make recommendations to the government.

The five other cases are: the major clashes between groups for
and against the partition of the Papua province, in Timika in
August last year; the death of the head of Papua Presidium
Council, Theys Hiyo Eluay on Nov. 10, 2001; the shootings in
Witung, on the border of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea in 2002;
the bloody Biak incident in 1998, when a group of people hoisted
the separatist Bintang Kejora flag above the Biak water tower;
and the fight for customary rights in Kimaam, Merauke in 2001.