Feb 1, 2003
Collection of Articles (1): On the Kidnapping and Assassination of Dortheys Hiyo Eluay
Indonesia Withdraws Troops From Papua Province
JAKARTA, Feb. 27 (AP)–Indonesia’s army said Thursday it was withdrawing its special-forces troops from the secessionist-minded Papua province. Members of the disgraced unit have been accused of killing U.S. teachers there and an independence leader.
The military didn’t link the pullout to the murders. Army Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said 250 Kopassus troops were being withdrawn because security in Papua had improved.
Sutarto said the decision to withdraw the troops was taken after increased cooperation with Papua New Guinea - which shares a land border with Papua - to tighten security along the frontier.
Though Kopassus will no longer have a presence in Papua, regular army troops and the police will still be based there.
He said the rebel Free Papua Movement - a ragtag band of guerrillas armed with bows and arrows and mainly homemade guns - had long operated with impunity along the border.
Kopassus soldiers are feared across much of Indonesia. They were the enforcers of ex-dictator Suharto’s 32-year regime, which ended in 1998, and have been accused of widespread atrocities in East Timor, which separated from Indonesia in 1999, and the rebellious Aceh province as well as Papua.
Police have accused Kopassus of being involved in the killing of two U.S. teachers and an Indonesian and the wounding of eight Americans in a shooting near a giant U.S.-owned gold and copper mine in central Papua in August.
No one has been arrested in the shootings. The military has denied any involvement. Rights groups have alleged Kopassus committed the murders to discredit a small separatist movement in Papua.
Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, is Indonesia’s easternmost province on the western half of New Guinea island.
Indonesia invaded the region in 1961 when the former Dutch rulers started to withdraw.
