6 Jun 2014

Pledge to ease Papua access

3:30 pm on 6 June 2014

An Indonesian presidential candidate Joko Widodo has promised to open West Papua to foreign journalists and non-government organisations if he wins next month's election.

An Indonesian presidential candidate Joko Widodo has promised to open West Papua to foreign journalists and non-government organisations if he wins next month's election.

Access to the province is broadly restricted to foreign reporters.

In October, three West Papuan activists climbed the wall into the Australian consulate in Bali to demand media access to the province.

Ahead of a visit by the Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, the trio presented a letter asking for him to seek the release of political prisoners from Indonesian jails.

Mr Abbott reiterated his support for Indonesia's sovereignty over Papua, which Indonesia took control of in 1969 following a controversial UN-backed vote by some chiefs.

The province is the scene of a low-level insurgency since the mid 1960s.