West Irian tense as Indonesia 'mops up’

Press, 31 May 1977, Page 8

West Irian tense as Indonesia ' mops up’

NZPA-Reuter Jakarta i Indonesian troops have 1 launched mopping-up operations against rebel elements in the remote province of! Irian Jaya, formerly Dutch [ West New Guinea, official sources have said in Jakarta, j The rebels, members of; [the banned Free Papua Movement (0.P.M.), had planned to exploit recent clashes between two tribal groups in the central highlands of the backward province, the sources said. They wanted to mount a terror campaign of killings and kidnappings in the territory with the ultimate aim o c establishing an independent State of West New Guinea separated from Indonesian rule, according to the i sources. The Indonesian Army announced last week that the rebellion by Irianese tribesmen which began at Baliemi Valley after a brawl at a soc- 1

.cer match, had been crushed. ! The sources said that hundreds of tribesmen, including O.P.M. members and sympathisers, had given them- ’! selves up during the mop-i[ping-up operations in several places in the valley. | But the situation in Baliem, [some 274 km (170 miles) i south-west of the provincial I capital of Jayapura, was still ; tense, they added. I So far seven policemen ■ and soldiers and about 25 ■ tribesmen had been killed in the disturbances. A large i quantity of spears and ar- ; rows had been seized and • many tribesmen had fled to : the hills, the sources said. “Their (0.P.M.) hit and run i tactics do not work because i they have no support from lithe masses or other tribesmen,” they said. Indonesia has been dealing ( with O.P.M. elements since ■ it took over the territory i (from the Dutch in 1963 after ■years of hostility.