Indonesia is again bombing Kiwirok, the site of a huge massacre in 2021 that killed over 300 West Papuan civilians. While President Prabowo talks about promoting peace in the Middle East, his military is trying to wipe out West Papua.

Evidence gathered by villagers in the Star Mountains shows the Indonesian military using Brazilian fighter jets to target houses, gardens, and cemeteries. The village has been destroyed and yet more civilians in their own land, adding to the over 100,000 currently displaced.

This incident again shows how the whole world is complicit in the genocide of my people. In 2021, Indonesia used bombs and drones made in Serbia, China and France to kill civilians. Now, it is Brazilian jets that children in Kiwirok see before their homes are destroyed.

At the same time as the TNI blasts villages in Kiwirok, West Papua is being subjected to a number of colonial tactics to crush our spirit and destroy our resistance. What is happening in Kiwirok is happening in different ways across West Papua:

  • Riots and demos happened today in Jayapura after a peaceful demonstration to release the Papuan political prisoners was violently crushed.
  • Indonesia has occupied churches in Intan Jaya in violation of international law as they deploy soldiers for a new military base.
  • The Indonesian military murdered civilian Sadrak Yahome after anti-racism protests in Yalimo, which occurred after Indonesian settlers racially abused a Papuan student.
  • Militarisation is happening across the Highlands, with over fifty villages having being occupied by the TNI since August.
  • West Papuans were called ‘monkey’ by Indonesian settlers in Timika.
  • A 52-year-old man was killed by police during a protest against political prisoner transfer in Manokwari.

It is not a coincidence that this escalation is happening while Indonesia is increasing environmental destruction in West Papua, trying to steal our resources and rip apart our forest for profit and food security. In Raja Ampat, Merauke, Intan Jaya, and Kiwirok, new plantations and mines are killing our people and land.

I ask Pacific leaders to stand for West Papua as the rest of the world stands for Palestine. The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) must respond to this escalation: Indonesia is spilling Pacific and Melanesian blood in West Papua. They must not bow to Indonesian chequebook diplomacy. West Papua cannot wait for help any longer – we have been waiting for sixty-two years for our neighbours to act.

Instead of endless chaos and destruction under Indonesian colonialism, the ULMWP is offering the world a stable and free Green State in West Papua. We have our own constitution, President, Prime Minister, and government structure with thousands of elected representatives across our land. The world should have no doubt that we are ready for independence, according to all the conditions of the Montevideo Convention – permanent population, defined territory, government on the ground, and capacity to engage with other states. We are ready to govern our own affairs.

Benny Wenda
President
ULMWP