April 23, 2024
JAKARTA – Shootouts between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and rebel groups continue to occur despite mounting calls for security forces to apply a different approach to curb conflict in the region.
In the latest instance, two members of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), were shot during a shootout with TNI personnel of the Habema Operations Command in the village of Paro, Nduga regency, Highland Papua, on Friday.
No fatalities were recorded as both members managed to run away, according to the military’s press release. The Habema Operations Command also confiscated several weapons and rounds of ammunition from the group’s armory.
The latest shooting on Friday involved the newly established TNI’s Habema Operations Command, which was introduced in late February by TNI commander Gen. Agus Subiyanto to handle conflicts with a combination of “soft and hard power” approaches, Antara reported.
Habema’s information officer Lt. Col. Yogi Nugroho claimed the shootout was in retaliation to the OPM’s constant attacks on a TNI post in Paro village since early 2024, adding that it was part of its attempts to “maintain stability”.
Before last week’s incident, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) reported there had been at least 12 violent confrontations in Papua throughout March and early April that had killed five personnel from the TNI and the National Police and three civilians, with a further nine injured.
Papua is rich in natural resources but remains one of the country’s poorest, most underdeveloped regions.
Papua has experienced conflicts between separatists and security forces since the 1970s, but tensions have escalated considerably since 2018, with pro-independence armed groups mounting deadlier and more frequent attacks.
Different approach
The rising tension has prompted calls from experts and activists for the government to reconsider its handling of the conflicts in the country’s easternmost region.
A 2024 report by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) said the government should avoid chasing down separatists and instead implement a “live and let live” approach between them.
Komnas HAM, the government-sanctioned but independent rights body, has called for a more “measured” approach from the government, noting that ensuring access to basic public services remains a pivotal way to deescalate tension.
The commission also called for a transparent and accountable investigation into any violence in Papua.
In its report, two children were among fatalities in the string of violent clashes between security forces and rebel groups that have occurred since March.
The latest recorded death in these clashes was the Army’s Second Lt. Oktovianus Sogalrey, who was posted in Aradide district in Paniai regency, Central Papua. Oktovianus was allegedly shot by the TPNPB on April 11.
But the military has also been under scrutiny after a video clip showing a Papuan man in a water-filled steel drum being tortured by plainclothes soldiers went viral and sparked an outcry on social media.
The military confirmed the video’s authenticity and issued a rare apology last month, adding that 13 of its soldiers had been arrested and were currently under investigation.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has also stated its concern toward multiple reports of “extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of indigenous peoples in Papua,” the UN branch said in a report in late March.