Violence escalating in Papua, Indonesia
Tension increases in the Indonesian province of Papua, in eastern Indonesia, plagued by separatist turmoil but also the scene of a general protest by civil society for the abuses and violations of human rights committed by the Indonesian army military, Fides news agency reports.
The government of Jakarta is about to deploy a contingent of 400 soldiers from the “Satan Battalion” in the Indonesian province of Papua to counter the Papuan armed separatist groups. The deployment follows the Indonesian government’s decision to officially label local armed separatist groups as “terrorists”.
Publicly announced by Mahfud, Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, the decision was motivated by the urgency of “eradicating criminal acts of terrorism” from the province.
It is known that in the province of Papua there is the West Papua National Liberation Army, an armed wing of the Free Papua Movement (FPM). The FPM has repeatedly claimed responsibility for attacks on the military but also unarmed civilians in different parts of the Papua provinces.
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