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Aid provided to conflict-hit residents in Papua
The government has begun providing evacuees in Papua with basic needs and medical assistance after receiving a report that some 139 civilians had reportedly died in shelters because of starvation and poor living conditions
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span>The government has begun providing evacuees in Papua with basic needs and medical assistance after receiving a report that some 139 civilians had reportedly died in shelters because of starvation and poor living conditions. The local security authorities dismissed the report about the deaths, saying that it was “not true”.
According to a civil society coalition, the deceased individuals were among thousands of people who escaped Nduga regency in Papua amid the ongoing conflict between the military and an armed group linked to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) in the region.
In response to the report, the Social Affairs Ministry channeled aid worth Rp 750 million (US$53,160) to the evacuees in the form of staple food, cooking utensils, school supplies and toys for toddlers, among other things.
The ministry stated that it was ready to provide additional aid to the conflict-hit residents if necessary.
“I am responsible for that matter,” Social Affairs Minister Agung Gumiwang said over the weekend.
Agung had specifically ordered the ministry’s director general for social security and protection, Harry Hikmat, to visit the shelters to make sure that the assistance was properly channeled to the evacuees.
The institution had also assigned a psycho-social support team to help residents cope with trauma from the conflict related to the PT Istaka Karya incident.
In December last year, a number of fighters linked to the OPM allegedly murdered dozens of workers from the state-owned construction firm Istaka Karya. The incident eventually led to a military crackdown to hunt the suspected perpetrators.
The Nduga Solidarity Civil Society Coalition argued previously that the conflict had put the lives of Nduga residents at risk, as the military personnel kept searching residential areas using excessive power.
The security force even purportedly burned down houses and took over local churches during the military operation — forcing locals to find safer places to live.
As a result, 11 districts in the regency had been completely vacated following the conflict, the coalition reported, adding that some 5,201 evacuees were currently lived in shelters in the neighboring city of Wamena, Jayawijaya regency.
The coalition revealed that at least 139 people had died in the shelters because of poor living condition.
“Many of them died because of starvation. Others died within three or four days of suffering diarrhea, headaches or upper respiratory tract infections,” said Wamena-based volunteer Doly Ubruwangge.
The Social Affairs Ministry admitted the shelters were in poor condition, but it has yet to confirm the reports about the deaths of some evacuees.
“We haven’t received any report about the deaths either from the Wamena administration or the Papua Social
Agency, so we need to clarify this to the media,” said the ministry’s director general for social security and protection, Harry Hikmat.
He also forwarded a report from the Papua military command, citing that the report about the deaths was “not true”. The army even claimed that some people who previously resided in the Jayawijaya shelters had already returned to their homes.
“[The coalition] might have made up the story to gain the government’s attention [and to persuade the government] to withdraw the military personnel from Nduga,” said National Disaster Mitigation Agency head Lt. Gen. Doni Monardo, as quoted by Harry.
The Indonesian Military had committed to conduct operations in the region until they succeeded in capturing the OPM fighters who committed the “serious violation against the human rights”.
— Ardila Syakriah contributed to the story
