16 Apr 2013

NZ police to train in Indonesia's Papua region again

9:45 pm on 16 April 2013

New Zealand's police training in Indonesia's Papua region is set to recommence in September under an aid allocation of 2 million US dollars.

The new three-year programme extends New Zealand's role training in community policing as the first foreign police force to be invited into Indonesia's remote eastern region.

New Zealand ran similar programmes in Papua between 2008 and 2010.

Operating on a rotational basis, two New Zealand police officers will be stationed in Papua, running a Training for Trainers programme to develop community-based approaches to police work in the heavily-militarised region.

An ongoing separatist conflict has been simmering in Papua for decades but New Zealand's ambassador in Jakarta David Taylor says his government respects the full territorial integrity of Indonesia.

However Mr Taylor says all parties should work together to negotiate solutions for the issues in Papua.