Indonesia orders ICRC out of Papua
INDONESIA: Indonesia has ordered the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) to leave the politically sensitive Papua region
after its officials visited separatists in jail, the foreign ministry
said.
Papua, the underdeveloped but resource-rich western half of New
Guinea island where independence activists have waged a separatist
campaign for decades, is geographically isolated and foreign journalists
need special permission to visit.
There is a strong military and police presence in Papua, especially
around the huge Grasberg copper and gold mine. Police recently shot
demonstrators calling for a boycott of Indonesia's April 9 parliamentary
election.
Foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said that the government
was offended both by the ICRC's failure to obtain proper permission to
operate in Papua and by the prison visits.
"Any organisation must be aware that, yes, this is a new Indonesia
but we are a sovereign country," Faizasyah told Reuters, suggesting that
other aid organisations might also face a clampdown.
"They should not abuse our democratic reform and act as though they
can do whatever suits their interests."
The ICRC said it runs sanitation projects in Papua and also visits
detainees, including jailed members of the secessionist Free Papua
Movement (OPM), to ensure they are treated properly. "People accused of
crimes which might be called subversion, or rebellion could be at risk
of being discriminated against," said Vincent Nicod, the head of the
ICRC's Indonesia delegation.
"When we visit detainees, it is not to look into the reason for the
detention. It's part of our activity relating to international
humanitarian law to ensure that political prisoners are provided
worldwide with decent conditions."
The dispute follows last year's release of stricter new rules on the
funding of foreign non-governmental organisations in Indonesia.
The foreign ministry's Faizasyah said that the government first asked
the ICRC to renegotiate the deal under which it operates in Indonesia in
2000 but the ICRC said talks stalled after the tsunami in December 2004
when 170,000 Indonesians died. JAKARTA, Thursday, Reuters |