The Morning Star flag of Papua has been raised in Port Moresby to commemorate a 1997 proclamation of independence by activists opposed to the region being part of Indonesia.
About 120 people gathered in the Papua New Guinea capital for the raising of the flag and to hear a message read from West Papua New Guinea National Congress president Michael Kareth now living in exile in the Netherlands.
Mr Kareth made the independence proclamation on November 27, 1997, in the offices of the president of the European Parliament in Brussels.
The raising of the Morning Star flag is banned in Indonesian Papua.
Speakers at this morning's ceremony called for continuing commitment to the independence struggle and for the independence message to be picked up and addressed by the United Nations.
