JAKARTA, Mar 8 (NNN-ANTARA) – More than 800 residents fled their home, in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua, as rebels threaten to launch attacks on the military and police there, a police officer said.
Scores of members of the separatist group, which the government calls “the criminal armed group” have been appearing in the villages in Mimika district, Provincial Police Chief Inspector, General Paulus Waterpauw, said.
The police chief said, by Saturday, residents there had kept escaping their villages, for fear of the presence of the rebels.
The presence of the separatist group made the residents uneasy and they have chosen to flee, the police chief said.
Waterpauw stressed, he will take stern action against the separatists.
The police chief and Provincial Military Commander, Major General Herman Asaribab, visited the place attacked by the rebels days ago, in Mimika District’s city of Tembagapura, local media reported.
Spokesman for the provincial police office, Senior Commissioner A.M. Kamal, said that, the residents felt that the situation in their villages are not safe with the presence of the rebels.
The rebels took food from residents by pointing a gun on them, he said.
Most of those fleeing home are children, women and the elderly, according to Agus Beanal, one of the youth leaders in the area.
Papua province is home to the separatist Free Papua Movement, which has been seeking an independent state through guerrilla wars.– NNN-ANTARA
