[Kabar-Irian] News: Oct 19-23 2007

[Admin-Editors Kabar-Irian]

KABAR IRIAN NEWS

Oct 19-23

TOPICS

* PNG: Magistrate stoned to death by refugees - 22/10/2007
* West Papuans to go home in Dec

* PNG magistrate stoned to death for car crash
* Crusader for West Papuan cause
* Grave concern' for West Papuans
* Baby echidna could help save cousin
* Prickly pair may hold the key to survival
* Killer mob

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http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pacbeat/stories/s2066549.htm

PNG: Magistrate stoned to death by refugees - 22/10/2007

Papua New Guinea police are investigating the death of a senior court
magistrate who was allegedly

beaten and stoned to death by a group of Papuan refugees in Port Moresby
at the weekend. Magistrate

Ivan Cappo crashed his car near makeshift tents the refugees had been
living in for the past three

weeks near the city centre.

Presenter - Steve Marshall  Speaker - Fred Yekasa, Police Superintendent

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The National, 19 Oct 07


West Papuans to go home in Dec

By HARLYNE JOKU

WEST Papuans numbering 600 have agreed to be
repatriated to their home province in Indonesia, the

independent
group supporting special autonomous region of Papua (IGSSARPRI)
said yesterday.

Secretary general Sawi Sitapai said IGSSARPRI was
organising their voluntary repatriation which would

take place in
December and January.Mr Sitapai said the West Papuans had agreed to
return and build a

new Papua under the Special Autonomous Law
21/2001 granted by the Indonesian government.

“IGSSARPRI is a non-
governmental organisation (NGO) based in the country committed to
support and

promote the special autonomy in the region of Papua
(formerly Irian Jaya) for the development and

advancement of Papua
and its people,” he said.

About 100 of the 600 were from the group
currently based at Nine Mile settlement. Those still camped

outside
the UNHCR office in Town were not part of the group, Mr Sitapai
said. He also announced that

IGSSARPRI will be sending food rations
to the families at Eight Mile who were also waiting to be
repatriated.Mr Sitapai said about 16 West Papuan families at Nine
Mile were waiting for the Government

and the Governor Powes Parkop
to find alternative resettlement site for them. Majority of them
would be

repatriated, he said.Food rations for the Nine Mile
settlers will be distributed today.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSYD67567

PNG magistrate stoned to death for car crash
Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:38pm EDT


powered by Sphere Sphere
PORT MORESBY, Oct 22 (Reuters) - A court magistrate in Papua New Guinea in
the South Pacific was

stoned to death after his car crashed into a refugee camp in the capital
Port Moresby, local media

reported on Monday.

The Post Courier newspaper said senior magistrate Ivo Cappo was killed on
Saturday night when he lost

control of his car as he drove home from a hotel, and ran into the camp on
Ela Beach.

None of the refugees were injured, but when Cappo got out of his car to
inspect the crash, the refugees

from the western part of New Guinea, which is under Indonesian rule,
rushed him and stoned him to

death, said the newspaper.

"But whether it was wilful or manslaughter is yet to be established,"
police chief Fed Yakasa told The

National newspaper.

Payback is a traditional custom in Papua New Guinea, a nation where tribal
wars and black magic are

common, and most people live subsistence lives in jungle-clad mountain
villages.

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http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/crusader-for-west-papuan-cause/1072937.html

The Canberra Times
21 October 2007
Crusader for West Papuan cause
Emily Sherlock


THEY have been interrupting our TV viewing for months.

And with the federal election campaign in full swing, advertisements on
West Papua have become more

prevalent.

The man behind this curious, relentless thorn in the side of the Federal
Government is millionaire

businessman Ian Melrose, who said he was driven by a child's preventable
death into acting on the

behalf of our West Papuan and East Timorese neighbours.

His advertisements which are appearing several times an hour highlight
human rights abuses in West

Papua and East Timor at the hands of the Indonesian military.

They also call for human rights monitors and access for foreign
journalists to West Papua in Australia's

new security treaty with Indonesia.

Mr Melrose said the advertisements had been targeted to screen in areas
were the Government held key

marginal seats and across most capital cities.

"What we are trying to do is highlight the human rights abuses that the
Indonesian military is currently

committing in West Papua, there are killings every second or third day,"
he said.

"Because media are not allowed in, none of these stories come out."

The Optical Superstore proprietor also put his weight behind a 2004
campaign for a better deal for East

Timor over oil and gas rights in the Timor Sea, and was involved in the
campaign to defeat a government

move to declare Australia's northern borders outside the immigration zone.

Last year, he also commissioned a Newspoll asking Australians if they were
for or against self-

determination for Papuans, including the option of independence.

Mr Melrose was coy in disclosing how much the campaigns had cost and said
putting his financial

weight behind the advertisements had never been an issue.

"I know too many East Timorese that have been tortured or have had family
members killed by the

Indonesian military," he said.

"You either get upset or you do something. Getting upset doesn't help
them, doing something will, so that

is why I decided I wasn't going to sit on the couch any more."

Initially he said he was motivated to get involved after reading in 2004
about a 12-year-old East Timorese

girl who had choked to death on roundworms.

A worm tablet could have saved her life, but instead she was asphyxiated
when hundreds of the 20-30

centimetre worms crawled from her small intestine to her stomach then to
her oesophagus and blocked

her trachea.

"I thought it was just horrific and unacceptable that for less than 50
cents she could have survived," he

said.

Mr Melrose has also written to the Prime Minister about West Papua and is
determined to continue his

campaign, sending information to all 640,000 of his customers in the
lead-up to the election.

"When you eventually make money and I've made money it doesn't do any good
to hoard it if you can

do something good with it," he said.

"That is what I'm having a go at doing. Whether I'm successful or not is
going to be another issue."

The Prime Minister's office and Indonesian Embassy declined to comment on
issues raised in Mr

Melrose's campaigns.

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http://www.torresnews.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=616&Itemid=1

Grave concern' for West Papuans
Monday, 22 October 2007
Leaders of Pacific Island countries, including Australia and New Zealand,
should devote special attention

to the plight of West Papuan human rights defenders at the annual meeting
of the Pacific Islands Forum

this week in Tonga, says TAPOL, the UK-based NGO that promotes human
rights, peace and

democracy in Indonesia.

The level of intimidation against human rights defenders, political
activists and religious leaders by

Indonesian military and intelligence personnel has increased markedly
since a visit to West Papua in

June, 2007, by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Human
Rights Defenders, Hina

Jilani, says TAPOL in an open briefing to the Forum leaders.

“There is currently grave concern for the safety of human rights defenders.

“Targeted individuals and their families are being terrorised by death
threats, anonymous phone calls

and SMS messages, constant surveillance, and late-night visits by
unidentified persons,” it says.

 The UN Special Representative drew attention to “credible reports of ...
arbitrary detention, torture,

harassment through surveillance, interference with the freedom of movement
and in [human rights]

defenders’ efforts to monitor and investigate human rights violations”
following her visit.

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http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Baby-echidna-could-help-save-

cousin/2007/10/22/1192940976101.html

Baby echidna could help save cousin


October 22, 2007 - 5:25PM

A baby echidna born at Perth Zoo will be closely watched as part of a
research project to help save a

separate endangered species of echidna found only in Papua New Guinea
(PNG) and Indonesia.

The 15cm puggle, named Jilba, was born on August 4 and appeared in public
for the first time on

Monday where it was weighed in at just 334 grams.

Jilba, whose sex will not become apparent until it is two years old, is
only the ninth echidna born in

captivity.

The spikey little creature's mother, Kiltah, carried it around in her
pouch for two months after birth

before carefully placing it in their burrow earlier this month, where it
will stay, suckling on its mother's

milk until the end of the year.

A video camera inside the burrow will constantly monitor Jilba to learn
about puggle development and

how female echidnas care for their young.

Researchers at Perth Zoo have been watching six Short-beaked echidnas,
including Kiltah, since May to

gather information about echidna reproduction and help save their
endangered cousin, the Long-beaked

echidna.

The Long-beaked echidna is found only in PNG and the Indonesian province
of Papua and is now

facing extinction.

Perth Zoo's curator of Australian fauna John Lemon said the Short-beaked
echidna is found in Australia,

PNG, Papua and some off-shore islands.

"It is hoped that by unravelling the secrets of the Short-beaked echidna
this knowledge can be applied to

the threatened Long-beaked echidna and help in building up a captive
'insurance' or back-up population

of this endangered species in case it becomes extinct in the wild," Mr
Lemon said.

© 2007 AAP

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http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22631438-662,00.html


Prickly pair may hold the key to survival
Article from: Herald Sun

October 23, 2007 12:00am

AN echidna born at Perth Zoo may help save a separate endangered species
of echidna found only in

Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya.

The 15cm puggle, named Jilba, was born on August 4 and yesterday appeared
in public for the first

time, where it was weighed in at just 334g.

The spiky little creature's mother, Kiltah, carried it around in her pouch
for two months after birth before

carefully placing it in their burrow earlier this month, where it will
stay, suckling on its mother's milk until

the end of the year.

And researchers at the zoo have been watching the youngster and its mum to
gather information about

echidna reproduction and help in saving their endangered cousin, the
long-beaked echidna.

Jilba, whose sex will not become clear until it is two years old, is just
the ninth echidna born in captivity.

A video camera inside the burrow will constantly monitor the creature to
learn about puggle development

and how female echidnas care for their young.

The long-beaked echidna is found only in PNG and the Indonesian province
of Irian Jaya, and is now

facing extinction.

Perth Zoo's curator of Australian fauna, John Lemon, said it was hoped the
information gained from the

Zoo's brood could help build a "back-up population" of the endangered
species.

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http://www.thenational.com.pg/102207/Nation%201.htm

Killer mob

By JULIA DAIA BORE
A SENIOR magistrate was allegedly beaten to death by a mob after his car
crashed into a makeshift tent

occupied by some West Papuans at Ela Beach in Port Moresby last Saturday
morning. City police chief

Supt Fed Yakasa said initial investigations showed that Ivo Cappo was
murdered.

“But whether it was wilful or manslaughter is yet to be established,” he
said yesterday afternoon.
Cappo, aged 55, was heading home along Musgrave Road when the accident
occurred at about 2am.
His cousin, identified only as John, was injured.

A relative claimed that Cappo was stoned and battered.

Supt Yakasa said Cappo’s vehicle reportedly went out of control and landed
“onto the side of the island

where the West Papuans had been camped” for the past four weeks.

Following the incident, the West Papuans were moved from the site but Supt
Yakasa declined to reveal

the location for security and other reasons.

He said it was a delicate matter and had instructed his men to complete
the investigation as soon as

possible.

Anyone found of wrongdoing would be charged, he said.

It was learnt that Cappos’ relatives intend to submit a petition to the
Government, the United Nation’s High

Commission for Refuges, the National Capital District Commission, the
police and the Indonesian High

Commission today.

Nephew Paul Kandi said Cappo would not have been killed if the authorities
had handled the West

Papuan issue promptly and adequately.

“Instead, they allowed them to camp at a very dangerous spot in the town,”
he said.
Cappo had been with the Magisterial Services for 25 years.
He left a wife, nine children and two grandchildren.

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