Johnny
Blades RNZ Pacific senior journalist
Reports
filtering out from West Papua say six civilians were shot by
Indonesian security forces last week in Yahukimo
Regency.
Human Rights Monitor reports that military
and police personnel opened fire at a group of Indigenous
Papuan civilians near Samboga Village last Friday while
returning from a gold-panning site.
Six young men aged
between 19 and 28 were shot, including two who were
critically injured, although it took several days before
they were evacuated to hospital.
This comes as
Indonesian security forces have been running a joint
operation to pursue guerilla fighters with the West Papua
Liberation Army, or TPNPB, in this mountainous region of
Papua.
A human rights defender in the region told RNZ
Pacific that the latest attack has been condemned by both
religious and tribal leaders.
Yahukimo Fellowship of
Churches spokesperson Reverend Atias Matuan said the
conflict is between Indonesian forces and the TPNPB and
should not involve targeting unarmed civilians.
A
local church was also raided as part of the military and
police operation.
A local tribal chief Alipia Yalak
has also pleaded with Indonesian security forces to gain
some cultural understanding and differentiate between
Papuans who carry arrows and bows or other traditional
weapons for hunting and fishing from pro-independence
guerillas.
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He said if actions by the Indonesian
military and police continued to create civilian casualties,
the state and the TPNPB should negotiate a peaceful
solution.
Meanwhile, the Regent of Yahukimo Didimus
Yahuli has urged state security forces not to use
extra-judicial killing when detaining criminals
The
Papua Tribune reports him saying law enforcement must
follow the correct judicial process, starting from arrest,
examination, to court verdicts so that perpetrators can
serve their sentences in correctional institutions while
getting the opportunity to repent.
He said it is wrong
for security forces to arrest then simply kill a
suspect.
The latest violence follows reports of
arbitrary detention of Papuans in recent weeks in the
regency.
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