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Indonesian soldiers prepare coffins for workers killed by Papuan separatists on December 4, 2018. STAF STEEL / AFP
In Papua, the province of eastern Indonesia, between 24 and 31 workers on a construction site were killed on Sunday (December 2nd) according to the local press, which quotes the police. These killings are reportedly the work of separatist rebels. Police and soldiers were deployed to investigate, but a soldier was killed.
If these murders are verified, it would be the most serious incident for decades in the clashes between the security forces and the separatist rebellion.
Papua had declared independence from the Dutch colonizer in 1961, but by 1963 Indonesia had taken control of this area rich in natural resources, yet facing extreme poverty.
The workers reportedly shot dead on Sunday, December 2, were building a 275-kilometer stretch of road across Papua. Since taking office in 2014, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has put in place a whole program of infrastructure development in the region - but critics say they do not tackle the underlying problems of discrimination and rights violations. humans.
Many Papuans claim independence. Last weekend hundreds of activists were arrested throughout Indonesia by the police, in its suppression of the demonstrations of December 1, anniversary for many Papuans of their independence.
These arrests have been condemned by the NGO Human Rights Watch , which denounces the harassment, intimidation and therefore the arrests that Papuans still had to face this year.