Usaha Diplomasi
PNG minister tells Papua rebels to sign Aceh-like pact with Indonesia
By AFP
Aug 18, 2005, 13:50

PORT MORESBY (AFP): Papua New Guinea's foreign minister called on pro-independence rebels in the neighboring Indonesian province of West Papua on Thursday to seek an
autonomy arrangement similar tothat reached this week between Jakarta and separatists in Aceh.

The appeal by Foreign Minister Rabbie Namaliu came a day after PNG authorities sparked a controversy by barring a leader of the West Papua separatist group OPM from attending a four-nation summit meeting of Melanesian states being held this week in thehighlands town of Goroka.

West Papuans are ethnic Melanesians and their exclusion from the summit drew protests from some PNG officials and the Pacific state of Vanuatu, which invited OPM representative John Ondawame to the meeting as an observer.

The four-day summit of the Melanesian Spearhead Group involves officials from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Prime ministers from the four states
will wrap up the summit on Friday.

Namaliu, speaking from Goroka, defended the decision to bar Ondawame from the meeting, saying the West Papuan situation was an internal matter for the Indonesian
government, which renamed the former Dutch colony Irian Jaya in 1963.

He suggested the West Papuans seek some form of "autonomous government" in line with a peace agreement signed on Monday between the Indonesian government and separatists who have been fighting for decades for independence in the northern Sumatraprovince of Aceh.

An OPM spokesman regretted his group's exclusion from the meeting, saying West Papuans needed help from the Melanesian governments to counter alleged human rights
abuse by Indonesian soldiers.

"We don't want human rights abuses going on to our next generation," Jacob Rumbiak told the Australian national broadcaster, ABC.

"We want to share with our Melanesian kids how we stand together to stop human rights abuses," he said.(*)


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