INDONESIA TROOPS ‘SHOOT PAPUANS’
By WPNews
Jan 21, 2006, 02:23
20.1.2006. 21:09:38
Activists say they can confirm that four teenagers were shot dead by Indonesian troops in the province of West Papua, one of them closely related to a member of the group that fled to Australia earlier this week.
Nick Chesterfield of the Australia-West Papua National Authority has told SBS that five young teenagers were walking to school when Indonesian TNI troops jumped out of a van and shot them.
However Indonesian authorities say only one person was killed, and it was during a clash outside a police station after three people complained about being prevented from begging.
Mr Chesterfield said the incident occurred in the Paniai region of West Papua’s Western Highlands, where some of the asylum seekers who landed on Queensland’s Cape York peninsula come from.
The fifth teenager is in a critical condition and has reportedly been airlifted to hospital.
Mr Chesterfield said one of those shot dead, Moses Dowe, 14, was a very close relative of one of the group of asylum seekers.
“This shows that something really terrible has happened with the sharing of information,” Mr Chesterfield told SBS.
"The Australian government has blood on its hands right now. We provided a list of names, in confidence, to the government for the purposes of verification.
“They assured us that this would not be shared in any way with the Indonesians and they knew full well what the ramifications were.”
The group has sought to send news of the boy’s death to the man, currently detained on Christmas Island, however Mr Chesterfield said immigration authorities would not allow it through.
Earlier, a pastor told SBS news from Jayapura that he had spoken to witnesses who said soldiers from TNI Battalion 753 had opened fire on the group, apparently with no provocation.
Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle has told the ABC she has also received reports from West Papuan activists that the shootings took place.
She said she is concerned the incident might be linked to the Australian government allowing Indonesian officials access to the West Papuan asylum seekers on Thursday.
Howard defends move
An Indonesian government spokesman is reported as saying that ties with Australia could be strained if asylum is offered to the Papuans.
Earlier on Friday, Australian Prime Minister John Howard defended the decision to move the 43 Papuan political activists and their families to Christmas Island, where Australia operates an offshore detention facility,
for processing.
Refugee groups have labelled the move cruel and unnecessary, and said, along with the federal opposition, that the Papuans should be released into the mainland community on bridging visas.
The International Commission of Jurists also argues it is against Australian refugee conventions for the Papuan asylum seekers to be held in detention, as they were fleeing oppression.
But Mr Howard said the government is right to transfer the group to Christmas Island, saying their positions will be assessed and they will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
Genocide claims “rubbish”
Indonesia on Friday strongly rejected claims made by the fleeing Papuans that the government is practicing genocide in their home province of West Papua.
The 43 members of the group of asylum seekers, which reportedly includes prominent pro-independence activists and their families, arrived in Australia in a canoe hung with a banner accusing Indonesia of “genocide” in
their home province.
West Papua is a former Dutch colony taken over by Indonesia in the 1960s. But Indonesian presidential spokesman Dino Djall dismissed the claims. “It’s all rubbish,” he told AFP.
“There is no genocide whatsoever in Papua. No one believes that.”
But while he conceded that there have been human rights problems in the past, he is not aware of any incidents taking place recently.
“There are political problems, but the government is doing its best to rectify the problems of the past,” he said.