This is the 71st in a series of monthly reports that focus on developments affecting Papuans. This series is produced by the non-profit West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts, other NGO assessments, and analysis and reporting from sources within West Papua. This report is co-published with the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) Back issues are posted online at http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm Questions regarding this report can be addressed to Edmund McWilliams at edmcw@msn.com.
Summary
The lightly-armed Papuan resistance organization (OPM) expressed public support for a internationally mediated dialogue between Papuans and the Indonesian government. The announcement indicates broad unity among Papuans for a peaceful approach to resolving Papuans' myriad problems with Jakarta. In late March, Papuan demonstrators in various Papuan cities met a mixed response from police who at times used repression against the uniformly peaceful protests. The trial of Victor Yiemo began. The activist stands accused of "rebellion" under Indonesia's infamous Article 106. The Indonesian military announced plans, not yet approved by the civilian government, to significantly augment its presence in West Papua. The plan stands in stark contrast to broad Papuan calls for demilitarizing their homeland. Environmentalists have pointed to new problems with government plans to develop a massive food estate in the area of Merauke. In its annual assessment of human rights in Indonesia in 2009, the U.S. Department of State chronicles many of the cases of rights abuse, usually at the hands of the security forces, but inexplicably ignores a key June 2009 Human Rights Watch report which detailed extensive Kopassus abuse of Papuans, as well as decades of Indonesian government failure to extend health, education and other basic services to Papuans. The International Crisis Group (ICG) issued a report on West Papua which seeks to assign blame for growing violence to individual Papuan groups rather than acknowledge deteriorating human rights and humanitarian conditions. Some media reports of the analysis, abetted by an ICG official's comments, mischaracterize the report's assessment of who is to blame for recent violence in the area of the Freeport-McMoran mine. A recent violent incident in the Puncak Jaya region has local people on edge.

Source: reliefweb.int
Source: East Timor Action Network (ETAN)