West Papua

This comes it was reported on Tuesday night that a New Zealander, working as a pilot for Susi Air, was taken hostage by separatist fighters in West Papua.

Reuters reported the West Papua National Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the pilot would not be released until the Indonesian government acknowledged the independence of West Papua.

The pilot was identified by Reuters as Captain Philip Merthens.

The Sydney-based Australia West Papua Association's spokesperson Joe Collins said the people of Indonesia-occupied West Papua see themselves as part of the Pacific community.

Collins said the outcomes statement by the Forum Leaders in Suva last week - which failed to mention West Papua - is a "missed opportunity" to help people who are suffering at the hands of Jakarta actions.

He said regional leaders must urge the Indonesian government to allow for a fact-finding mission to the territory.

Benny Wenda, who is the Interim President of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) says even as the world looks on in horror at Russia's invasion, West Papuans feel a special affinity to the Ukranian people.

"We feel their terror, we feel their pain and our solidarity is with these men, women and children. We see their suffering and we weep at the loss of innocent lives, the killing of children, the bombing of their homes, and for the trauma of refugees who are forced to flee their communities," Benny Wenda said.

Pastor Alberto John Bunai headed a press conference to deliver the statement by the group of Catholic leaders at the Bright World of Christ Parish in Waena, Jayapura city, Papua province.

He said there had been dozens of ideological and political conflicts between indigenous Papuans and the Indonesian government, and that these conflicts had triggered armed violence in Papua to this day.

Pro-independence fighters with the West Papua Liberation Army have been blamed for killing four Indonesian soldiers on an attack on a military post in Maybrat last week.

It's the latest violent in a series of attack by the Liberation Army in its ongoing campaign against the Indonesian state in Papua region.

As Indonesian security forces mounted a hunt for the killers in Maybrat, many local villagers feared getting caught up in the armed conflict

Victor Yeimo is the foreign spokesman for the West Papua National Committee, or KNPB, which has a large following in the Indonesian-ruled provinces of Papua region.

Yeimo has been on a police wanted list for treason suspects related to his alleged role in the widespread anti-racism protests in August and September 2019.

The protests in a number of cities and towns in the region followed highly publicised racist attacks on Papuan students in Java.

Brigadier General I Gusti Putu Danny Karya Nugraha, who was the chief intelligence official in Papua, was killed in an ambush by the West Papua Liberation Army in Puncak, in the central Highlands, on Sunday. The independence group has claimed the general's killing.

"He was in the area as part of the operation to restore security and to boost the morale of locals in the region following a series of attacks by separatist and terrorist groups," Wawan Purwanto, a spokesman for the National Intelligence Agency said.

Brigadier General Gusti Putu Danny, the head of Papua's Intelligence Agency was shot near Dambet Village in the Puncak District on Sunday.

The Indonesia's president has ordered a crackdown on what he calls armed criminal groups.

The Indonesian media has also reported the chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly in Papua, Bambang Soesatyo, urging the government to deploy forces at full strength to crush the Papuan rebellion.

He is quoted saying "destroy them first. We will discuss human rights matters later."

This comes amid more violence in the highlands of Papua province, with two school teachers shot dead last week in Puncak district.

The West Papua Liberation Army claimed responsibility for at least one of the killings, saying the teacher was an Indonesian spy.

Indonesian military and police have evacuated a number of residents as they pursue the Liberation Army's guerilla fighters and supporters.

Thousands of villagers in this region have been displaced by violence between Indonesian security forces and the rebel group since it escalated two years ago.

Yeremia Zanambani was shot dead last month, one of a series of killings in Papua's Intan Jaya regency.

The pastor was killed while tending to his pigs, two days after a pair of Indonesian soldiers were killed by what the team called an armed criminal group, the government's oft-used term for the West Papua Liberation Army.

The Liberation Army's guerilla fighters are engaged in ongoing conflict with Indonesia's military in Papua's rugged interior.

The team said it found indications that Indonesia's security forces were involved in the shooting of Pastor Zanambani.