Timika calm but tense amidst tight security

Timika calm but tense amidst tight security

JAKARTA (JP): Timika, in Irian Jaya's Mimika regency, remained
quiet but tense over the weekend as tight security blanketed the
area following an outbreak of violence in Harapan Kwamki Lama
village.

Local witnesses said scores of army and police personnel were
dispatched to watch the town's main roads.

Dozens of emergency security posts were also set up in the
town.

"All Irianese leaving the village for Timika will be searched
as they go through the check points, in case they bring weapons,"
a resident said yesterday.

No reports of new clashes were reported yesterday.

Timika was tense Friday after two Ekari tribesmen were killed
when security officers tried to disperse a group of Kwamki Lama
villagers protesting the earlier deaths of two tribesmen.

The two victims -- Stevanus Pakeke, 23, shot in the head and
Timotius Koga, 21 shot in the stomach -- were among 200 mostly
Ekari tribesman marching downtown to the local police station.

They were demanding police investigate the deaths of two Ekari
hitchhikers who fell off a vehicle belonging to PT Freeport
Indonesia mining company Wednesday.

The tension in Timika had calmed Saturday according to Antara,
who quoted Mimika police precinct chief Lt. Col. Idrus Gassing as
saying that the situation was under control.

"It's business as usual now, no upheavals," Gassing was quoted
as saying after attending the funeral of the four Ekari
tribesmen.

Also present at the security-tight funeral were Mimika
military chief Lt. Col. Wilston P. Simanjuntak and Mimika Regent
O. Putereyauw.

Gassing said the two who were shot dead were shot with rubber
bullets after they had attacked on-duty military officers with
arrows and spears.

Gassing said police were still investigating the two earlier
deaths.

Last week's violence erupted just days after local church
leaders warned that the disbursement of the one percent trust
fund given by PT Freeport to local tribes could spark jealousy
and tribal warfare.

PT Freeport set up the plan, under which it gives one percent
of the company's annual earnings to the trust fund, after ethnic
violence around Timika led to the deaths of 12 people last year.

Jakarta-based spokesman for PT Freeport Indonesia, Ed
Pressman, said last week that the company was aware of the
problems with the funding mechanism, and that the company was
hoping that church leaders would be willing to help fix the
problems. (aan)