Two Papuan separatist leaders were killed in a shootout between security forces and their rebel group near one of the world’s largest gold mines in Indonesia’s restive Papua region.
Clashes Thursday between independence rebels of the Free Papua Movement and a joint police and military force near the mining town of Tembagapura in Central Papua province left two of the group’s regional commanders dead; Abubakar Kogoya, known as Abubakar Tabuni and Damianus Magay, commonly known as Natan Wanimbo.
Both were part of the West Papua Liberation Army, the group’s military wing.
Rebels in Papua have been fighting a low-level insurgency since the early 1960s when Indonesia annexed the region. A U.N.-sponsored ballot, widely seen as a sham, incorporated the former Dutch colony into Indonesia leading to simmering insurgency ever since.
Several other rebels were wounded in the shootout but managed to escape into the jungle. They were armed with military-grade weapons, axes and arrows. Security forces seized a gun in the area.
The area harbors the Grasberg gold mine, nearly half-owned by U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan and run by PT Freeport Indonesia. Separatists view the mine as a symbol of Indonesian rule and have frequently targeted it.
The shootout ensued after authorities received reports that attackers believed to be members of the liberation army stormed a traditional gold panning facility in Kali Kuluk.
Kali Kuluk is in the operational area of PT Freeport Indonesia.
Tabuni is seen as a central figure in the liberation army, taking part in the March 2020 attack that killed a New Zealander and wounded six others in the same area, a road ambush in Oct. 2017 that left one police officer dead and another attack in November the same year that wounded a company truck driver.
Freeport-McMoRan has been mining the Grasberg’s vast gold and copper reserves for decades. Several environmental groups have accused the company of damaging the surrounding territories primarily via waste dumping.
In March 2020, the West Papua Liberation Army Kali Kopi group, which operates in Mimika Regency, attacked Kuala Kencana, less than 15 kilometers from Timika, the second-largest city in Papua. Kuala Kencana was built by Freeport-McMoran, which operates the Grasberg Mine. Grasberg has one of the largest gold and copper reserves in the world. Henry Kissinger was at one time on the board of directors for Freeport-McMoran. It is alleged that one of the main reasons for the United States’ support for Indonesia was to ensure that an American company profited from the mine. Indonesia has since taken a majority stake, as of 2018. The West Papua Liberation Army has called for the closure of the mine; they have threatened to attack Freeport-McMoran and PT Freeport Indonesia on numerous occasions. They have conducted successful attacks in the past too. There have also been numerous protests by Papuans, demanding the mine be shut down. On March 30, 2020, a West Papua Liberation Army group entered Kuala Kencana and killed a contractor from New Zealand, and seriously injured two Indonesian employees.