Indonesian security forces operations since August 17 in Puncak Jaya, West Papua, have forced the regionÂ’s indigenous people into the frozen foothills 5,000 meters above their homes, and reports say that thousands of refugees have taken hiding in caves or make-shift shelters.
The online forum of the non-governmental organization Friends of Peoples Close to Nature (FPCN) reports that in early December several thousand Papuans were "herded into the mountains like cattle by Indonesian soldiers firing machine guns at them from helicopter gunships as they ran for their lives." FPCN estimates that nearly 15,000 refugees are now without food or medical care, and that 15 Papuans have died on the Puncak Jaya mountainside, although those numbers have not been confirmed.
Amnesty International says in a December 6 statement that troops entered the Puncak Jaya District in August in response to reports that the opposition group Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM) had been active in the area. Amnesty has since received reports of extrajudicial executions, attacks by armed groups, widespread destruction of property, and the displacement of thousands of local residents. While information coming from the area is difficult to confirm, Amnesty says that reports suggest that at least six civilians have been killed since August.
As a local government official said that it was necessary to remove civilians from the area due to increased OPM activity, local community and church leaders told Amnesty that the thousands of refugees who fled from the military raids and are afraid to return. Local groups are petitioning for the Indonesian army (TNI) to remove troops from the area.
