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JOINT STATEMENT BY VICTIMS OF THE 1996 HOSTAGE CRISIS IN MAPNDUMA WITH
DETAILS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN CENTRAL HIGHLANDS, WEST PAPUA
26 February 2000
[Translated in slightly abridged form by TAPOL.]
Four years have now passed but we
are still feeling the repercussions of
the 1996 hostage crisis because of the
many grim reports of human rights
violations committed by the military at the
time of the freeing of the
hostages in the Central Highlands, in Jila, Bela,
Alama, Nngeselama,
Mapnduma, Yigi, Mugi and Mbua. Our sufferings have not yet
ended; to this
day, the Indonesian National Army (TNI) still control our
kampungs exerting
constant pressure on our everyday lives and limiting our
freedoms..
As was reported in August 1999 by the three main churches (two
Protestant
and one Catholic) and the human rights NGO, ELS-HAM Irian Jaya
(West
Papua), a number of gross human rights violations occurred in our
region as
a result of the hostage crisis and the military operations at the
time, in
accordance with our testimonies to the aforesaid organisations which
showed
that during the operations to release the hostages and following
their
release, the following violations occurred:
* 35 persons were
murdered
* 14 women were raped including one 3-year old baby girl, two
12-year old
girls, and one 50-year old woman.
* 13 churches were
destroyed.
* 166 homes were destroyed.
* 123 persons died of various
diseases and the shortage of food when they
were living as refugees having
fled their homes because of the military
operations.
We know that
these reports were sent to the National Human Rights
Commission (Komnas
HAM), the Indonesian Parliament, the British, Dutch and
German governments,
the International Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations.
The churches
which are concerned about our sufferings have made appeals to
those in
authority, calling for investigations and for the results to be
made public.
We are still waiting and waiting, but to this very day,
nothing has happened.
We have taken a number of steps to obtain justice in
this country but justice
has eluded us. Komnas HAM came here and verified
the accuracy of the report
drawn up by the churches, confirming that human
rights violations had indeed
occurred in Bela, Alam, Jila and mapnduma, but
their recommendations were not
followed up.
We have testified to the fact that the ICRC was involved in
the bloody
mission during the military operations to release the hostages.
However,
they have not undertaken any on-the-spot investigations but have
continued
to defend themselves. The British government has refused to comment
on
indications that SAS troops were involved in the operation. The
Dutch
government which is believed to have been involved in the operations
has
not yet taken a stand despite being pressed to do so by various parties.
As
for the South African government, it has confined itself to saying that
the
mercenary army that was involved in the operations is illegal in
their
country.
For us, nothing is clear, nothing is certain while our
villages are still
under the control of the Indonesian military who are
restricting our
freedoms every day and spreading fear and
oppression.
We therefore make the following demands:
1.
ICRC
The board of the ICRC in Geneva should set up an
investigation team to
conduct direct, on-the-spot investigations to ascertain
the role of the
Jakarta office of the ICRC in the negotiations that were held
at the time
with the OPM, its involvement in the operation to release the
hostages and
to determine who were the parties who manipulated ICRC symbols
so as to
launch an attack on our brothers and sisters.
2. The
Indonesian government
The Indonesian government should
explain why they permitted human
rights violations involving the security
forces to occur in the Central
Highlands.
3. The British and Dutch
governments
To set up an investigation team to examine the
involvement of the
British and Dutch armies in the military operations to
release the hostages
in Mapnduma.
4. The South African
government
To set up an investigation team to examine the
involvement of the South
African mercenary army in the attack on our brothers
and sisters.
[The statement bears the signatures or thumb prints of 123
people including
sixteen women.]