Laksamana.net

Regions: Military investigate Freeport killings

November 17, 2002 11:32 PM,

Laksamana.Net - An Indonesian Military (TNI) six-man team is in Papua to probe the deaths of two Americans and an Indonesian in a shooting incident August 31 near the giant Freeport gold mine.

The team were tight-lipped about their mission but Papua’s deputy police chief, Brig. Raziman Tarigan, confirmed it was there to investigate the allegations of TNI involvement in the incident when a group of unidentified gunmen ambushed a convoy of Freeport employees on their way to Tembagapura.

Tarigan said Thursday police suspected Kopassus troops played a part in the ambush and pointed to the testimony from a Papuan native, Deky Murib, who claims to have first-hand knowledge of the ambush. Murib accused four Kopassus soldiers of participating in the attack.

Immediately after the killings TNI officials blamed Papua’s independence rebels, the OPM for the deaths, and demanded they be outlawed as a terrorist organization.

Forensic examinations on the body of an as yet unidentified Papuan, said by the TNI to be a separatist rebel shot at the scene, show that he had been killed at least six hours before the shootings.

Local non-governmental organizations have stressed that it is hardly likely rebels would enter an area so tightly guarded by troops.

Ten members of the Army’s Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) have also been questioned in relation to the murders.

“The TNI inquiry team should crosscheck the police results with the ten witnesses’ explanations to prove that the Papuan suspect was not behind the attack,” Raziman said.

At stake also is the resumption of full military ties with the US. Though Washington has renewed links with the Indonesian military, and started funds flowing again, there is little doubt that much rests on the military getting a clean bill of health following the investigation.

Stanley Harsha, spokesman for the US Embassy in Jakarta, speaking on an Australian Broadcasting Corporation program broadcast last week, said the US was gravely concerned over suggestions from the Indonesian police that the military was involved.

‘We also strongly urge the Indonesian police and military to co-operate in the investigation and apprehension of those responsible for the Papuan murders,” he said.

TNI commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, in an interview with The Weekend Australian, dismissed a November 3 Washington Post report suggesting he and other generals had discussed the possibility of staging an incident at the Freeport mine aimed at discrediting the rebel Free Papua Organisation (OPM).

Sutarto said, “That’s why I sent an investigation team now, just to confirm whether my members are involved in that case or not. I will not deny (it) if, then, there is evidence that members of TNI were involved in that case.”

Sutarto is demanding an apology from the newspaper and has threatened legal action.