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friends of Peoples close to Nature

Twenty-seven leaders representing different Factions of the West Papuan Independence Movement have agreed in their meeting held in Yambi, Papua New Guinea on the formation of a national unity and reconciliation body, the West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation. The meeting was held between 28 November and 1st December 2005 and was attended by leaders from 18 resistance organizations including the TPN, the Military Arm of the OPM.

This is a follow up meeting from the First Leaders Meeting held in Utrecht in the Netherlands from 18-20 June 2003. The meeting and formation of the coalition body coincides with the 44th anniversary of what West Papuans consider as their national day, the 1st of December. It was on this day in 1961 when the morning star flag was created and raised for the first time. The West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation is an inclusive umbrella body under which all stakeholders i.e. armed resistance, political organizations and civil society organizations work together while retaining their own organizations. A Secretariat would be set up as soon as possible to prepare the framework for this National Coalition. Members and the Secretariat would consult widely and encourage the other organizations still outside the coalition to join.

The leaders have stated in a signed Memorandum of Understanding that national unity is paramount and coordination of a national liberation program is not only a must but, the only way forward. The MOU affirms the establishment of the West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation and its Secretariat. All the leaders who attended this meeting pledged their unity and commitment to work together in this national coalition. The West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation further stated its intent to work together with the international community to maintain global security and peace, and to resist all forms of colonialism, imperialism, neo-colonialism and terrorism.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding is a concrete measure by leaders of the resistance groups in West Papua of the importance they placed on national unity and reconciliation, and its role in addressing the divide and rule politics of the Colonial government of Indonesian against the people of West Papua for more than four decades. The national unity and reconciliation initiative emerged out of an acknowledgement by the resistance groups, particularly the armed resistance groups, that, weaknesses within and between West Papuan resistance organizations have resulted in the struggle being a target of provocation and infiltration by the Indonesian intelligence.

The facilitating Committee stated that the initial idea for the formation of the West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation emerged out of the earlier West Papuan Think Tank Group meeting held in the Netherlands in June 2003. The 26 leaders who participated in that meeting were academics and intellectuals; but did not represent their respective organizations as such. The main discussions of the 2003 meeting were on major issues facing the West Papuan society in the areas of human rights, justice or rule of law, politics and development. They have made specific recommendations on how all these could be resolved. One of their recommendations was that leaders meetings must be convened to allow stakeholders to decide together on how to resolve these complex issues for the good of the West Papuan society as a whole. Yambi meeting was a follow up from those recommendations. A working group was facilitated by ELSHAM to consult widely with all the stakeholders. The result was, 18 organisations agreed to take part and a further 10 organisations were not able to attend but pledged their support for the establishment of a national coalition for liberation.

Another major concern was for leaders of different organizations especially the Military Arm, the TPN to continue to observe the Zone of Peace declared by the Civil Society including Migrants in 2001. The Coalition and its Secretariat will maintain close contact between different factions to continue to affirm their stand on Peaceful resistance.

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For further information please contact:
Rex Rumakiek, Assistant Director, Decolonisation, PCRC, partner NGO of ELSHAM in Papua and co-facilitator on Tel.+679 3304649, email: rrumakiek@pcrc.org.fj
or Peter Emberson, Assistant Director, Information, also of PCRC.
Note: This Press Release is circulated throughout West Papua and through international networks to enlist support for the West Papuan struggle against decades of colonial repression by Indonesia.

Region

• West Papua

Tags

• Campaign