Fearing police, 500 villagers take refuge in Paniai

About 500 inhabitants of Dagouto village in Paniai Regency, Papua, have opted to leave their homes and seek refuge following the deployment of 150 Mobile Brigade officers to their area, Paniai tribe council chief John Gobai said Wednesday.

“Our people have become refugees at Uwatawogi Hall in Enarotali, Paniai, for several weeks. They are now afraid they may not be able to celebrate Christmas at home,” John told reporters at the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

John, along with four other Paniai people, was at the commission to complain about the presence of police officers in the area, which they said “exacerbated the security situation.”

The National Police has increased its numbers of personnel in the regency following several deadly shootings, reportedly claiming the lives of eight traditional miners working on the Degeuwo River, near Dagouto, last month.

Later reports revised the number of victims to only one villager.

A former lawmaker who is also a Paniai patron, Ruben Gobai, said the situation in the Dagouto area had returned to normal, and that the presence of Mobile Police Brigade officers was unnecessary.

Komnas HAM commissioner Ridha Saleh said his team would ask National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo for clarification of the deployment of police personnel to the Dagouto area.

“The government has repeatedly pledges not to use a security approach to address issues in Papua. But this may have been empty rhetoric,” Ridha said.

Violence has been escalating in Papua since the Third Papuan People’s Congress was held from Oct. 16-19 in Abepura, Jayapura, when police and military officers forcefully dispersed the event, seizing both organizers and participants of the congress, and shooting and injuring countless congress participants in what was largely described as a completely unnecessary display of police brutality and violence.

Numerous unidentified gunmen shooting civilians in Papua have been reported in the past two months, with dozens, including four police officers, being killed.