West Papua

This follows reports of an Indonesian troop build-up along the border from communities in PNG's West Sepik province.

Indonesian-ruled West Papua has been gripped by weeks of protests and violent unrest which has left dozens of people dead.

Amid a security forces crackdown, concern has been raised in neighbouring PNG about another potential influx of West Papuan refugees

PNG's Immigration and Citizenship Authority has advised that following a shootout the border is closed to nationals from both sides until further notice.

He had posted on Twitter photographs of students allegedly shot during clashes in Jayapura and Wamena in Papua.

The Jakarta Post says Dandhy was accused of spreading information aimed at fueling hatred based on ethnicity, religio

His lawyer said it is a matter of freedom of expression in conveying his opinion on what is happening in Papua.

Violence erupted in the provincial capital Jayapura and the main Highlands town Wamena on Sunday, an escalation of protests that have gripped the province for weeks.

Indonesia's military says 22 people were killed during riots in Wamena, where students were protesting over a racism allegation.

Government buildings and businesses were torched by large crowds.

The military says four people - including a soldier - were killed in a separate protest by students there.

Seven-hundred and thirty-three people are being held at Papua police headquarters in Jayapura.

Today in the capital of Papua province, Jayapura, as many as four people were killed, including at least one West Papuan university student who was shot dead and an Indonesian soldier fatally stabbed.

The violence was sparked after police rounded on a mass of Papuan university students who recently returned to Papua from cities in other parts of Indonesia, and had converged at Jayapura's University of Cenderawasih for a solidarity action.

Joko Widodo met with around 60 Papuan leaders on Tuesday in a bid to ease violent protests which have rocked the region for weeks.

The president, also known as Jokowi, said work will start next year on a palace in Jayapura, where the local council's chair has promised to gift 10 acres of land.

Jokowi said it came at the request of Papuan leaders, who also asked for the Special Autonomy Law to be amended and the formation of a National Land Agency.

“While the deployment of military was deemed necessary to quell recent protests in West Papua, actions are disproportionately heavy-handed, and have already resulted in several causalities,” the Office of the Prime Minister said in a statement on Thursday.

“Also, and according to early reports received, the Military continues to unfairly target protestors of Papuan origin-through arbitrary arrests and detentions.”

“Although, given the communication ‘blackout’ in West Papua, the human rights situation could be much worse.”

VANGO wants the government to report on the outcome of the recent Pacific Island Forum summit in Tuvalu and on the plight of West Papuan students in Indonesia's Java.

At the summit, Forum leaders adopted a stronger stand on pushing Indonesia over human rights abuses in Papua.

Shortly after the summit, racist harassment of Papuan students in Javanese cities triggered the biggest protests seen in decades in Papua, and related unrest.

The Liberation Movement already has observer status in the regional group whose full members are Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia's Kanaks.

The application was presented to the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila on behalf of the ULMWP by Vanuatu's Special Envoy for the Decolonisation of West Papua to the Pacific Islands States, Lora Lini.

Ms Lini told RNZI the application follows recent establishment of new membership criteria by a MSG sub-committee on regional and institutional issues.

Vanuatu is a strong proponent of West Papuan self-determination from Indonesia and has taken the battle for decolonisation to the global stage.

Mr Reganvanu said West Papua was discussed at the Forum Foreign Ministers' meeting last year where an existing resolution about constructive engagement with Indonesia was kept.

However, he said that resolution now needs to be upgraded.

Jakub Skrzypski was arrested in August after he was accused of plotting to sell arms to the West Papua Liberation Army.

His lawyer, Latifah Anum Siregar, says Mr Skrzypski was sentenced on Thursday to five years imprisonment by judges at Wamena City Court.

His co-defendant, Papuan student Simon Magal, was jailed for four years for allegedly communicating with Mr Skrzypski.

Prosecutors had sought a 10-year sentence for both men.

Ms Siregar says she will appeal the decision at a Papuan High Court.

Photo by Veronica Koman/Twitter