T

he Jayapura administration has begun collecting data on 353 evacuees from Timika currently being accommodated at the Toli dormitory in the GIDI Church compound in Polomo, Sentani, Papua.

“We are collecting data on their needs and we will report it to the provincial administration for further measures,” head of the Jayapura Nation Unity Agency, Yanto Dago, said on the sidelines of a visit to the evacuation center on Friday.

Based on the data, eight additional evacuees arrived at the site on Friday on board Garuda Indonesia and Sriwijaya Air flights.

“There are many others who want to come here but they cannot get flight tickets,” said Joni Wonda, who is in charge of evacuees in Polomo.

He said evacuees began fleeing to Jayapura following a clash between people of different ethnic groups in Timika on Sunday.

Nundison Kogoya, a third grader of SMA Kuala Kencana senior high school in Timika, who was among the evacuees in Jayapura, said that when his village Jile Jale SP III Timika was attacked on Monday, he was at home, preparing to go to school.

“All of a sudden they came to our village and attacked us. An arrow hit me on my leg and I ran away into the forest,” Nudison said, showing his wounded leg.

He said he only returned to his house in the afternoon for medical help. He arrived in Jayapura on Thursday together with family members. He said they bought flight tickets by themselves.

Mira Kogoya, 25, another evacuee, said the latest clash was brutal and went beyond customary rules.

Mira said people attacked the village in the morning, killing anything they found on the street, such as pigs and dogs. They also burned houses, attacked women and children and reportedly raped and killed people.

“I was very terrified seeing all of that. We evacuated to the GIDI Church in SP III Timika and then flew here to Jayapura,” Mira said.

The coordinator of the evacuees from Timika, Danison Wenda, said people had lost their homes and possessions as the attackers had burned and looted their houses.

“It’s a brutal war. The customary regulations in war ban people from attacking women and children, but this time they even killed school children,” Danison said.

He said the evacuees had been left homeless as they were too traumatized to return to their village. “They will only return when there is a guarantee from the government that no more war will prevail there.”

During their stay at the evacuation center in Timika, the evacuees depended on residents for food as their own local administration had not provided anything. A similar situation can be seen at their current evacuation center in Sentani.

“Local people here cook at their own houses and then bring food here for us to eat together,” Danison said.

The clash in Timika erupted on Sunday, with three people killed and dozens injured, along with 25 houses burned down and dozens of others damaged. Scores of vehicles were also set alight. Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw is in Timika to help create peace between the two warring groups and has approached community figures on both sides.

“If peace is difficult to achieve, the security apparatus will take stern action,” he told reporters in Timika.

Members of both the military and the police have been put on guard in Kwamki Narama village to prevent the conflict continuing.

Chairman of the Paniai customary institution, John Gobay, asked the police to arrest the commanders on each side of the clash, arguing that they took control of the conflict.

“After that, reconcile them by involving all the regents in the mountain range regions and PT Freeport,” John told The Jakarta Post in Jayapura on Wednesday, while suggesting that during the reconciliation period, parties should have heart-to-heart talks to uncover the root causes of the ongoing conflict.

He added that many of the people in the mountainous regions were actually related and that everything could be solved through dialogue.