This is a summary of a report on our recent visit to West Papua (the report is pasted and attached).

 A more detailed report is available by contacting me on the address.

Report of trip to West Papua 23rd March – 14th April 2002
Linda Kaucher (WPA-UK) and Kel Dummett (AWPA-Melbourne)

Key points

1. Special Autonomy was overwhelmingly rejected by every Papuan we spoke to. Only one Papuan supported it, and he was a government employee, but even he said it was a bridge to Independence, and only for 4 years. 

2. Papuans said they’ve waited long enough for independence, and tried non-violent path long enough (14 years since they pledged a path of ‘peace and love’ in 1988). Many said they would only wait until 2004, then ….
3. No easing of police and military abuse
4. Many people we spoke to had either experienced Indonesian abuses themselves or had a tale of family members who’d been killed, disappeared, raped, tortured, beaten or detained.
5. Papuans know exactly what they want, merdeka (freedom), and they’re determined to get it.

We visited: Timika, Jayapura, Wamena, Manokwari and Biak

1. TIMIKA

· Timika is a typical mining town – dirty, noisy and dominated by Indonesians 
· Thousands of Moluccans, especially from Ambon have flooded in recently (Timika is the closest port) to escape religious violence 
· Meetings with 
- LAMASA - about 50 men and one woman. They told us about threats and intimdation during AoFC; continuing abuse by security 
- Communication Forum for Amungme Women (FKPA), Betty Beanal’s women’s support group (they told us of double injustice suffered by women: abuse by Freeport and domestic violence
- YAHAMAK – Mama Yosepha’s inspiring victims support group. About 50 women and a few men, in YAHAMAK t-shirts greeted us. 
· At all meetings they told us they completely reject special autonomy and want merdeka
· We talked to them about WPAUK and AWPA, the nature of these groups (not govt, not funded, people working voluntary, not real powerful), about AoFC campaign, about why we were in WP
· Toured tailings devastated Ajkwa River, on Freeport concession area. Thom Beanal renegotiated agreement in 2000, now LAMASA are joint owners, so they beep horn, wave and drive through checkpoints – their way of asserting their ownership. We were a bit nervous - 2 whities in LAMASA car - but they didn’t stop us.
· Tailings incredible: gry rock and sand several kilometres wide, and many metres deep, and spreads out almost as far as the eye can see. It covers thousands of hectares of what was once pristine coastal rainforest (mostly sago forest – the staple food of lowlands people). Only from the air can you get a real feel for the expanse of this devastation. Is right next to town.

· Paula Makabori, the inspiring LAMASA and ElsHAM worker told us about:
- 1% royalties - all the problems with it, how Freeport uses it to manipulate, and pit one group against another. All facilities built have come from this, none from other Freeport money.
- Daily intimidation by Freeport security of local people, especially Komora people when they move in and out of concession area (tailings) – it’s their traditional hunting and gathering area – not that their’s much left to hunt and gather. Freeport security means police, military and so-called Freeport security (who are really just military in
different uniforms). 

2. JAYAPURA

· Greater Jayapura is really a group of towns, in a line running for about 40 km mostly around Lake Sentani, that are growing together (Sentani, Abepura and Jayapuar City are the main ones). JP City is typical Indonesian city: dirty, crowded, noisy, but in beautiful setting. 
· Met with Thom Beanal, Willie Mandowen, members of the new Unity Grouping, church leaders, ElsHAM. 
· Saw where Theys’ car was pulled over, where it was pushed off cliff and his grave – now a monument, near the airport.
· At meetings we talked about the same things, and they told us about abuses, their rejection of special autonomy and that they only want merdeka.

3. WAMENA

· Easy to see why Baliem valley was called ‘Shangri La’ by first non-Papuan to see it in 1938. 
· Wamena, the only town, is clean, quiet, streets in grid pattern, and cool - it’s at 3000 m 
· And very Papuan – indeed the only town we went to that was. Papuan’s have shops, assert their rights by walking straight into hotels to sell artifacts, and after thousands of transmigrasis fled following the ‘riot’ of Oct 2000, Papuans were left with all the becaks (peddle rickshaws) – a good earner for them. (But was reported here in May, that it was the only place that didn’t have rallies to mark 1st May because of threats of violence from Jihad.)
· Met the 5 senior leaders of Valley – inspiring, lovely, gentle people, including one woman (wish we had leaders like them in Australia). All under virtual town arrest after being arrested following the ‘riot’ in which 37 people were killed. They were held in custody for 8 months, and now have to report to police every month for next 4 years.
· Went on 2 day trek, mainly to meet village Heads – it had been arranged for us by one of the leaders. In one village we met with 10 Heads from surrounding village, as well as telling us all the stories of abuses, they jointly wrote a letter to Kofi Annan.

4. MANOKWARI

· Very rushed visit, just one day, (after horrific 18 hour trip from Biak in small crowded ferry) because only flight back to Biak, with seats available, was one day after we arrived. 
· Met with ElsHAM, discussed continuing Wasior crackdown. Thousands still have not returned to their villages after military action. 
· Met with two Head men from Saengga village, one of main villages to be affected by BP Tannguh project, and environment NGO, PERDU, that is helping the people with independent advice and information, (they took a group of village leaders from Bintuni area to inspect Bontang LNG plant in Kalimantan).. Lots of quite confusing and at times
conflicting information – but this is understandable, because between 1997, when BP/Arco bought 3000 hectares of their land for 0.6 cents per square metre, until 2000, they had absolutely NO independent advice or information.

5. BIAK

· Tropical paradise, but the military and police intimidation is palpable. The only place where young women and teenage girls did not great you with a smile as you walk down the streets. The fear and shame - many have suffered sexual assaults - can be seen on their faces.
· Met twice with Solidaritas Perempuan Papuan, set up after the Biak massacre. An inspiring group of ladies who are struggling with limited resources and always under watchful eyes of the police and military, to support victims, to assess people’s needs in remote outer villages and most importantly to get their story out so they can get justice. [They desperately want to be able to talk at human rights/womens conferences, so please contact us if you can fund one or two ladies to come out]
· These ladies were victims and witnesses and told us horrific stories of the physical and sexual atrocities inflicted on people by police and military, during a day-long orgy of violence. 150 people are now known to have been killed or disappeared. 139, mostly women, were loaded aboard two Indonesian naval frigates and taken to sea, where they were butchered and their bodies thrown overboard. Biak churches have documented 70 bodies that washed ashore or were recovered from
fishing nets – many had limbs and sexual organs removed. 

Postscript

On the day we flew out of West Papua, a US delegation was flying in for talks with political leaders, government officials and NGOs. Hopes were high among Papuans we spoke to before departing, that the US delegation, which had not revealed the nature of its visit, might be going to offer something tangible in the way of justice – or even a path to a genuine act of self-determination. Thom Beanal speculated that the delegation might be coming to discuss security arrangements
for US investments in the face of the build up of Jihad militias in West Papua over the preceding few weeks. 

At the meeting the Ambassador quickly dashed these hopes by re-affirming the US’ continuing support for Indonesian sovereignty over West Papua, and urging Papuan’s to accept Special Autonomy. In Timika the delegation tried to convince people that they were getting a fair deal from Freeport, citing the recent building of new houses, a school and a hospital. LAMASA and YAHAMAK representatives pointed out that they were built with their 1% royalties, not from Freeport’s profit. On the question of the build-up of Jihad, the Ambassador was silent.