©Dicky Wauyari via Unsplash
In Indonesia's Papua province, eight gold miners were killed by separatist rebels in Indonesia.
The miners were attacked on Wednesday by rebels in the Yahukimo district of the Papua Pegunungan province. The rebels killed eight miners. It was reportedly a retaliatory attack following the deaths of two TPNPB members last week. Moreover, according to the rebel group, the eight people killed were not ordinary gold miners. According to them, they were members of the security forces who were undercover, while the army talks about "civilians who were looking for gold."
According to the separatist group TPNPB, it was a "cleanup operation" against "soldiers or agents disguised as illegal gold seekers", following the killing of two of their members last week.
Political-historical context
Papua is an Indonesian region in western New Guinea. The area was formerly a Dutch colony and briefly had ambitions to become independent in the early 1960s. The Netherlands initially supported that development, but transferred administration to a temporary UN administration in 1962, after which Indonesia took over the area in 1963. A controversial vote followed in 1969, in which a limited number of representatives selected by Indonesia voted to join Indonesia under heavy pressure. The result was accepted by the United Nations, but has been disputed by Papuan separatists and human rights organizations for decades. For decades, this has caused ongoing clashes such as those that have occurred in recent weeks, with, unfortunately, new deaths.
©Dicky Wauyari via Unsplash - illustration image from New Guinea