10 Mar 2003

Jakarta due to complain to Australian delegation over alleged support of Papuan separatist

7:00 am on 10 March 2003

Officials in Indonesia are due to complain to a delegation of Australian ministers this week over what they say is Canberra's support for the Papuan separatist movement.

Jakarta says that Australia is favouring Papuan separatists over other Indonesians when issuing visas.

The Australian Associated Press says Canberra had backed a move by Jakarata to give the province of Papua more autonomy.

The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, supported the measure as a way of satisfying the aspirations of the Papuan people and helping to stop any further breakup of Indonesia into tiny, unstable states.

But Indonesia's President, Megawati Sukarnoputri, now supports plans which would see the province being broken up into three.