PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA
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Email tapol@gn.apc.org
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[See also Press Release 2 October 2000]
6 October 2000
TAPOL today condemned the British government for agreeing with the Indonesian authorities that British-made Hawk aircraft can be used in military exercises in the skies over West Papua. In a letter to Minister of State John Battle, it demanded that the British government should insist that all Hawk aircraft now being deployed in West Papua be withdrawn without delay.
The alarming developments in Wamena where two people were shot dead on Friday and at least fifteen people were wounded while defending a West Papuan flag against a totally unwarranted attack by the local police forces only reinforces the urgency for the British government to condemn these operations and to insist that the British-supplied aircraft be withdrawn.
A report from the Jayapura-based human rights organisation ELSHAM today stated that an additional three Hawk aircraft have arrived at the Air Force base in Biak, bringing the total number of Hawks now in West Papua to six.
A report in the Financial Times on 4 October stated that ' the Foreign Office has confirmed that the aircraft will be used in military exercises in the sky over Papua'.
In its letter to Minister of State John Battle today, TAPOL said: 'We are extremely concerned that the Foreign Office appears to have acquiesced in the Indonesian Government's deployment of the aircraft. It is clear from the information we have received that the aircraft have been sent to West Papua as part of the current military operation to crack down on the independence movement. This is a campaign of repression against innocent civilians in which the Hawks should play no part. It is wholly unacceptable and we are dismayed that the British Government has raised no objection.'
TAPOL also reiterated its demand that no further Hawks be delivered to Indonesia and that the British Government re-impose an arms on Indonesia, along with other members of the European Union.
ENDS
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