May 16, 2002

REGION: Solution in sight for West Papua border crossers

Port Moresby

More than 400 West Papuan border crossers camped near Vanimo may be considered for refugee status and permanently settled in Papua New Guinea.

Highly placed sources said the Papua New Guinea Government and the United Nation High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR) had agreed to a compromise over the fate of these border crossers.

They fled to Papua New Guinea in December 2000 from the neighbouring Indonesian-ruled province. It followed clashes between pro-independence West Papuans and Indonesian security forces.

They have refused to go back to their homes, saying they feared for their lives.

Sources in Vanimo said the compromise had been reached because there was no other solution.

The Vanimo Catholic Diocese has taken full responsibility for the care of the border crossers, spending almost K100,000 from its own funds.

Funding from the United Nations High Commission For Refugees and the PNG Government was cancelled late last year.

Some level of funding was also received from donor agencies.

The refugees have built homes and gardens.

West Papua, bordering Papua New Guinea, was a Dutch colony, like Indonesia. In the 1960s the Indonesians, who had won their own independence from Dutch colonial rule, began fighting to take control of West Papua from the Dutch.

The province was officially taken over following a controversial 1969 referendum after the Dutch departed following American pressure.

Pro-independence West Papuans call the referendum a sham and say only a small number of men who were intimidated by the Indonesian military were allowed to take part.

Human rights activists accuse Indonesian security forces of abuses in Papua and say thousands of people have died in years of
fighting.

Indonesian governments have encouraged the transmigration east of mainly Muslim Asian migrants from the country's crowded main islands to West Papua. West Papuans are mainly Melanesian and Christian.

The current Indonesian Government has recently granted West Papua more autonomy, allowed its name to be changed from Irian Jaya to Papua and given the province a greater share of revenue from its resources.