Posted 10 April 2006 @ 20:56
Updated 10 April 2006 @ 20:58
JAKARTA, 10 April 2006 - Four people died today in an exchange of fire between soldiers and suspected separatists in Indonesia’s remote resource-rich province of Papua, a military spokesman said.
Ahmad Yani Basuki, spokesman of the Indonesian armed forces in Jakarta, said the clash erupted when a group of 30 men armed with A-47 rifles, axes and bows and arrows attacked soldiers monitoring a health event in a village some 70km from the provincial capital Jayapura. "Two of our members died while two from their side also died," Basuki said.
Papuan independence activists have waged a campaign for more than 30 years to break away from Indonesia while a low-level armed rebellion has also simmered for decades. Tensions in the province have risen recently. Last month, four policemen and a soldier were killed during protests demanding the closure of a giant mine by US firm Freeport. Human rights groups have accused the Indonesian military of widespread abuses in Papua.
Critics say grievances among Papuans stem from such abuses and from dissatisfaction over Jakarta’s distribution of wealth generated by the province, which is rich in gold and natural gas. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in August he wanted to end conflict in Papua after the signing of a peace accord with rebels from Aceh province, Indonesia’s other separatist region in the country’s far northwest.
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