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AKARTA: The International Crisis Group (ICG) called on the government on Monday to speed up the creation of the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua (UP4B) to provide solutions for the many problems in the region.

“A draft decree creating the unit has been sitting on the Cabinet secretary’s desk in Jakarta for the last three months, and some are beginning to wonder if it will ever come into being,” the think tank said in statement released Monday.

It said that according to the latest draft of the decree, the unit was more than just a vehicle for economic “quick wins” as it was also tasked with “developing the mechanism and substance of constructive communication between the government and representatives of the people of Papua and West Papua with a view toward resolving the conflict”.

“President Yudhoyono needs to move quickly to set up a long-delayed new Papua unit with a mandate to cover political as well as economic development issues,” said Sidney Jones, Crisis Group senior adviser.

Human rights activists and analysts have voiced concerns over rising violence in Papua in the past two months. Early this month, a family car was shot at by unknown assailants in Jayapura.