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Murders in Nduga: New low for separatists
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Ready for action: Indonesian Military personnel prepare to board a helicopter in Wamena in Papua to retrieve the bodies of the construction workers killed in Nduga. The soldiers hunted for rebels suspected of killing 19 construction workers and one soldier in the restive province of Papua, as an eyewitness account supplied by the military described a grisly mass execution. (AFP/Anyong)
T
he fatal attack on 31 civilians by the armed wing of a Papuan separatist group in Nduga, Papua on Dec. 2 is so far the deadliest in the group’s long and often brutal campaign to gain international attention.
As reported in Papua’s newspaper, Tabloid Jubi, shortly after the massacre, the separatist group’s leader, Benny Wenda, was quick to label the killing of 17 people, identified as workers of state construction company PT Istaka Karya, as “government propaganda”.
This statement is bizarre given that the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPN-PB), which claims responsibility for the murders, and the spokesperson for the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), Victor Yeimo, openly support the armed unit of the group and call them “our military”.
Wenda, a United Kingdom national with a Papuan heritage, is the leader of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), an umbrella organization bringing together the political and armed wings of the group.
