Photo: AFP/Andrew Gal
The president of West Papua's United Liberation Movement (ULMWP) claims Indonesia's military has raided a number of highland villages in earlier on 3 and 4 February continuing "its reign of terror in rural West Papua".
In a statement on Wendesday, on the day of the Indonesian Presidential election, Benny Wenda claimed numerous houses were burnt to the ground and villagers were tortured, and at least one Papuan died from his wounds.
The military claimed the victims were West Papua National Liberation Army fighters, which Wenda called "a grotesque lie, immediately denied by the villagers and their relatives."
RNZ Pacific has contacted Indonesia's embassy in Wellington for comment but has yet to receive a response.
Wenda called Indonesia out for "hypocrisy", saying they are bringing a legal case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) about Israel's war in Gaza while intensifying their own military occupation of West Papua.
"We have complete sympathy with what is happening in Gaza. But Indonesian hypocrisy on Palestine cannot be ignored," he said.
He said over 500,000 West Papuans have been killed since the occupation began in 1963.
"In the last six years, over 100,000 Papuans have likely been displaced, made refugees in their own land as a result of Indonesian military operations.
"Genocide, ecocide, and ethnic cleansing - West Papuans are victims of all three. The world must pay attention to our plight," he added.
