West Papua

This is the will of all the Pacific leaders and their people including Australia and New Zealand and PNG as chair is mandated to consult with Indonesia.

The 46th meeting of Pacific Island Forum leaders meeting ended with an agreement to disagree on the contentious issue of climate change and a change in approach to fisheries management.

Climate change in particular dominated the week's discussions between the 16 member countries gathered in Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby.

Early on in the summit, conflicting views emerged as small island states like Kiribati and Palau reiterated their calls for greater action from the more developed nations like New Zealand and Australia on climate change.

The situation in Indonesia's eastern region was one of the main issues discussed at this week's Forum summit in Port Moresby amid intensive lobbying by civil society for more scrutiny on abuses in Papua.

Peter O'Neill says the concerns have been taken seriously by the Forum leaders.

Since the admission of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) as an observer to the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare appointed a Special Envoy on West Papua to highlight the situation in West Papua.

Member of Parliament, Matthew Wale is in Port Moresby this week to reach out to Pacific Leaders and remind them of their moral responsibility towards the sufferings of the more than 10 million West Papuans in Indonesia.

This was the outcome announced by O’Neill this evening after much debate among leaders.

O’Neill is also expected to consult the Indonesia government on a fact finding mission by PIF to West Papua.

“We declare that this is a consultation process and we need to work together and the Indonesia government must be commended for their efforts to ensure more autonomy is given to West Papua,” he said. 

West Papua Human rights issue was a key agenda discussed today by the leaders.

The government's special envoy on West Papua Matthew Wale says the Solomon Islands is supporting the United Liberation Movement of West Papua's application for observer status at the Forum.

The ULMWP was granted observer status in the Melanesian Spearhead Group at the regional organisation's recent leaders summit in Honiara.

Mr Wale says Solomon Islands will also urge Forum leaders to support a resolution calling for the UN Human Rights Commissioner to conduct an assessment on the human rights situation in West Papua.

Murray McCully is part of the New Zealand delegation attending the Forum leaders meeting in Port Moresby this week.

The situation in West Papua is one of the five big issues on the Forum agenda and there have been calls from both NGOs and West Papuans for a mission to look into allegations of human rights abuses in the Indonesian province.

However Mr McCully says he does not back the calls.

And already, the host country Papua New Guinea has refused entry for West Papuan activist, Benny Wenda, an indication of the controversy that surrounds the issue ahead of the 46th annual summit of Pacific Leaders in Port Moresby.

In Fiji, the Secretary General of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Octovanius Mote was ‘quietly’ asked to leave the meeting of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF).

Topics on discussion for the Pacific Island Forum leaders’ summit are;

1.            Increase return from fisheries and maritime surveillance

2.            Climate risk and disaster risk management

3.            Information and communication technology

4.            West Papua

5.            Cervical cancer  

The Pacific Ocean is the largest in the world and accounts for three thirds of the world’s tuna stock but this does not translate into revenue.

The Jakarta Post reports that conflicting details have emerged over what exactly happened, but the victims have been identified as Imanuel Mailmaur and Yulianus Okoare.

Soon after the incident, a Papua military spokesperson, Teguh Pudji Rahardjo, said the shooting happened when a soldier was attacked by a mob in Timika, prompting troops to fire into the crowd.

But the commander of the Merauke Regional Command, Brigadier General Supartodi, told the newspaper that the officers were drunk when they opened fire into the crowd, and have been arrested.