The Hindu : Crackdown on Papuan rebels

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 02, 2002

International

International

Crackdown on Papuan rebels

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Sept. 1. A "firefight'' broke out today between Indonesia's security forces and local rebels in the country's far-eastern province of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) following yesterday's terrorist attack that claimed the lives of two U.S. citizens as also an Indonesian national near the site of an American-managed gold-and-copper mine. It was stated authoritatively that at least one rebel was killed and a security officer wounded in today's "firefight''.

While the details of yesterday's ambush-and-kill operation by some unidentified gunmen remained sketchy, today's encounter between the security personnel and suspected rebels of the Papua province, too, remained less than fully explained until nightfall. However, yesterday's incident and today's sequel attracted unusual attention in the diplomatic and political circles in the region, mainly on account of the current international focus on South East Asia as a possible fallback sanctuary of the Al-Qaeda terrorist outfit. Indonesia has only recently renewed its pledge to "eliminate terrorism''.

While a "faction'' of the Papuan rebel group the separatist Free Papua Organisation (OPM in the native acronym) is believed to have been involved in today's "firefight'' with the Indonesian security forces, a direct link between the outfit and yesterday's terrorist attack has not yet been established. There has so far been no evidence to indicate any opportunistic link between the OPM and the Al-Qaeda. The two have no known ideological affinity. The bottom line is that the OPM has actually revolted against the mainly-Muslim Indonesian state on ethnic and religious considerations.

It is against this background that the new terrorist attack in Papua has raised questions about the possibility of a "proxy operation'' on behalf of the Al-Qaeda, given that Americans and other Westerners were the victims.

On a separate but related plane, attention remained centred on a U.N. internal report that identified the banking systems of a few South East Asian countries as the possible repository of the Al-Qaeda's clandestine funds.

Indonesia is not directly mentioned in the reports from the U.N. headquarters on the world body's internal document.

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