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Pro-independence activists reportedly arrested amid MSG visit
At least 21 activists were reportedly arrested by the police when they staged a number of rallies during a visit made by the foreign minister of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to Jayapura, West Papua
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t least 21 activists were reportedly arrested by the police when they staged a number of rallies during a visit made by the foreign minister of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to Jayapura, West Papua.
The demonstrators were urging the MSG officials 'to take a closer look into the handling of human rights cases in Papua and West Papua by having discussions with some Papuan groups', said one activist.
Jayapura Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Alfred Papare, however, claimed that his force only nabbed Markus Haluk, the coordinator of the demonstrations.
The other activists were reportedly immediately released.
The coordinator of rights group National Papua Solidarity (NAPAS), Zely Ariane, said that civil society voices were important in keeping alive the cause of promoting human rights.
'The government has always been paranoid of NGO moves to get international attention. They are afraid the world's eyes could directly view the state of human rights in Papua,' she said.
The visiting officials were Fijian Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola; Papua New Guinean Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato; and politician Clay Forau Soaloi of the Solomon Islands. Two other MSG member states, Vanuatu and the Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), a pro-independence group from French-ruled New Caledonia, only sent special envoys.
The MSG Summit in June 2013 had been scheduled to decide on the application submitted by the the separatist West Papua National Council for Liberation (WPNCL) to join the MSG, but it was delayed, thanks to Indonesian lobbying to Fiji, the grouping's current chair.
'The outcomes of the WPNCL's application would be subject to the report of the foreign ministers' mission [to Indonesia],' the summit's communiqué reads.
Both WPNCL and Indonesia are observers to the MSG. (*****)
