Party Vibe

Oxford, 31 January 2005

Dear Mr Benn,

WEST PAPUA : urgent refugee crisis in Puncak Jaya

We are all immensely grateful for the commitment shown by the UK Government
to bring immediate humanitarian relief to the people around the Indian Ocean
who were affected so terribly by the recent tsunami disaster. This is
particularly close to home for us, especially as one of our Achenese colleagues has
close family whose lives have now been devastated by this natural disaster —
after years of suffering human rights abuses at the hands of the Indonesian
military.

I am now writing to you about an urgent refugee crisis which is happening
right now at the other end of the Indonesian archipelago, in the Puncak Jaya
district of the highlands of West Papua. Thousands of innocent Papuan civilians,
men, women and children, have been forced to flee from their villages by
Indonesian KOPASSUS Special Forces firing machine guns at them from helicopters. In
an all too familiar pattern of wanton destruction, Indonesian soldiers have
then proceeded to burn the Papuans’ villages and churches, destroy the crops in
their fields and steal their livestock. The villagers are now refugees in
their own country, struggling to survive in the jungle, forcefully prevented from
returning to their homes and food supplies by the Indonesian military.

Very regrettably this horrific man-made disaster has not yet reached the
headlines here in the UK — mainly because the Indonesian military have so far
successfully prevented all but the merest trickle of news about it from reaching
the outside World. The TNI has blocked all access to the refugee camps, even
for local church pastors and Papuan human rights groups (let alone
international NGO’s and journalists), so not only has very little news got out, but
the
refugees have been denied the humanitarian assistance – food and medical
supplies — which they desperately need to stay alive.

Amongst the Papuan refugees in the jungle there are a high proportion of
women, children and elderly people. Because of the deliberate policy of the
Indonesian authorities to prevent access to the refugees, we cannot obtain accurate
up to date figures, but we know for certain that many of the weakest and most
vulnerable Papuan people, especially babies and elderly people, have already
died of starvation and exposure.

I am enclosing an important message which I received last Saturday (29.1.05)
from an incredibly brave Papuan who has just returned from a dangerous journey
to the refugees in the jungles of Puncak Jaya. I cannot give you our Papuan
brother’s name because if the Indonesian Police and military found out what he
is doing, he would face instant arrest, torture and most probably death.

Our Papuan brother has risked his own life by secretly making his way through
the Indonesian lines so that he could get some help to the refugees and send
out a message to the international community, letting us know that there is an
ongoing urgent refugee crisis in the West Papuan highlands and pleading to us
for us to HELP.

I am enclosing two photographs taken by our Papuan brother when he shared
food with the refugees in one of the camps. Although the picture quality is poor,
they do at the very least give an idea of the numbers of people involved in
this crisis.

We strongly believe that firm pressure from the international community could
persuade the Indonesian Government to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered
immediately to the refugees and free access to the region for human rights
observers and journalists. As you know from personal experience, Darfur was
completely closed off to the outside World until international pressure, lead
primarily by the UK government, persuaded the Sudanese government to allow NGO
access to the refugee camps.

We are therefore urging you, please, to apply the same pressure on the
government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia (with whom the UK
maintains friendly relations) to try to save the lives of these Papuan men, women
and children who, through no fault of their own, are now struggling to stay
alive in the jungles of West Papua

With best wishes and thanks, in anticipation,
Yours sincerely,

Richard Samuelson
Free West Papua Campaign,
Oxford, UK