Rights body team visits Irian Jaya
JAKARTA (JP): Just a day after arriving in Timika, Irian Jaya, two National Commission on Human Rights members suggested yesterday that the number of suspected human rights violations may be higher than originally reported by church groups.
Commission member Asmara Nababan said preliminary investigations indicated an increase in the number of violations that have occurred.
He refused to say how many were initially reported or how many new cases have been uncovered, saying only that the initial number of cases reported was in the dozens.
"Maybe two or three more commission members will be added to look into this matter so we can collect more data," he said as quoted by Antara from Timika.
He said visits to Bela and Jila villages already revealed that more investigating was needed.
The commission promised to hold an investigation after receiving reports last month of killings and vandalism allegedly committed by the Armed Forces in a number of Irian Jaya villages.
The report claimed that between December 1996 and October 1997, a number of innocent civilians were killed when a military unit was operating in the Mimika area.
The report, compiled by three church groups in Irian Jaya, said the incidents occurred in the villages of Bela, Alama, Jila and Mapenduma.
Nababan arrived in Timika with fellow commission member Clementino dos Reis Amaral on Saturday.
The two then visited surrounding villages and held dialogs with tribal heads and dozens of residents from Bela and Jila villages.
Benny Mom, a community leader from Bela, claimed that a number of local people were killed when a group of soldiers swept through the village during operations to free hostages held by local separatists in the Mapenduma area in May 1996.
"We demand the government investigate the human rights violations and take tough action against the soldiers involved," Benny asserted.
He also said that the government should gradually pull out soldiers stationed in the villages so that local people could do their daily activities without fear.
Nababan said that the rights body would urge the Armed Forces leadership to reduce the number of military personnel in the area and punish those involved.
However he pointed out that any withdrawal of troops would have to be gradual.
Local churches have also established their own team to investigate the human rights violations.
The church group has rejected the establishment of a fact- finding team established by the Trikora Military Command supervising Maluku and Irian Jaya over fears that it would be neither independent nor objective. (rms)