Soldier mobbed to death in Irian Jaya

JAKARTA (JP): A soldier was mobbed to death in the remote town of Tiom, Irian Jaya, some 80 kilometers south of Wamena, following a dispute between officers and locals over the pulling down of the Morning Star separatist flag, an official said on Wednesday.

"The incident took place four days ago (Friday) in Tiom. Pvt. Saharuddin was mobbed to death by locals, allegedly from the Dani tribe, after he and three other soldiers patrolling the area spotted a Morning Star flag flying," the chief of Irian Jaya Police Operation and Control Sr. Supt. Kusnadi told The Jakarta Post from Jayapura.

"The soldiers asked the locals to lower the flag but after nobody responded for sometime, the soldiers tore it down. That was when the mob attacked the soldiers," Kusnadi said.

The body of Pvt. Saharuddin was sent home to Manado, North Sulawesi, the officer said.

"The other three soldiers managed to escape the tribesmen, who were brandishing arrows, machetes and other sharp weapons," Kusnadi said. "They suffered minor injuries."

John Rumbiak of the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (ELSHAM), however, claimed that the soldiers had shot four locals dead.

"Sources at the Baptist Church in Tiom told us that the locals were singing, dancing and going wild over the flag they'd just raised when soldiers arrived and shot them without warning," John told AFP.

John said local Dani tribespeople had hoisted the flag in Tiom the day before. After negotiations with soldiers they lowered it, but on Friday the locals hoisted the flag at another location.

Officer Kusnadi said that on Saturday and Sunday security forces beefed up troops' numbers in Tiom, sending five truckloads of police and soldiers and two military helicopters to the area.

"The government policy is clear. No separatist movement is allowed. We try to be persuasive but we also have to stay alert as the separatist movement is now changing from the previous proindependence task force Satgas Papua to a liberation front army," Kusnadi said.

Police and military sources stated that there were about 200 members of the army liberation front in Irian Jaya.

The route to Tiom is difficult as many of its connecting roads have been either blown away or damaged by the separatists, Kusnadi said.

The incident has brought the death toll of continuous violence in Irian Jaya to at least 50 this year.

In Wamena alone, at least 35 were killed and 45 others injured -- mostly migrant settlers -- as thousands of proindependence Papuan militias ran amok on Oct. 6, following the pulling down of Morning Star flags by the police.

Wamena, located about 290 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital of Jayapura, is also known as the base of proindependence militia. (edt)