News from Papua New Guinea Take your stand, state told Source: The National, Wednesday April 23rd, 2014 OPPOSITION leader Belden Namah has called on the Government to clarify its stand on the on-going problems along the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border in West Sepik. He said the Government’s “silence is deafening” when lives of PNG citizens along the border were being threatened by the skirmishes between the Oganisasi Papua Merdeka (Free Papua Movement) and Indonesian soldiers. “Papua New Guinea has been very silent on the issue of West Papua,” Namah told reporters. “The Vanuatu government has come out very clearly in support of self-determination for West Papua. The Fijian government has come out very clearly and I believe Solomon Islands too. “There is a big island of New Guinea. The eastern side that was once colonised by Germans and the British is now called Papua New Guinea. The western side was colonised by the Dutch. The entire island is populated by an ethnic group called the Melanesians. “The question is: When is Papua New Guinea as a country going to come out and clearly make a statement to the international community that this is the position that the government is taking? “This is a very serious issue. We respect our diplomatic relations with Indonesia but it would be good also to address the plight of our brothers and sisters on the other side of the island. “These continuous incursions by Indonesians must stop. I would like to see dialogue between Indonesia and PNG, not conducted in Indonesia or Papua New Guinea, but in a neutral location to address these very sensitive issues. We can’t just sit on it.”
Posted on: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 09:11:18 +0000
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