West Papua

Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a 38-year-old pilot from New Zealand, was abducted by rebels from a remote airport in February 2023.

The report came as a separatist group said it was willing to release another pilot from New Zealand who was abducted in February 2023.

The gunmen then released the Indigenous Papuan passengers and set fire to the plane.

According to one resources analyst, large-scale deforestation appears to be shrinking compared to the past.

In the restive eastern province, Cold War realpolitik continues to reverberate.

As the world closely watches Gaza and Ukraine, a source reaches out from another enclosed area of prolonged armed conflict: West Papua.

West Papua’s independence movement again failed to obtain MSG membership, highlighting members’ competing strategic interests. 

A New Zealand pilot’s abduction focuses attention on Wellington and Canberra’s hands-off approach to the long-running conflict in Indonesia. 

The pilot was taken after landing a small plane with five passengers, intent on evacuating 15 workers building a health center that had earlier been threatened by separatist rebels.

The past few years have seen growing numbers of violent incidents in the eastern region, home to a long-running separatist insurgency.

A longtime proponent of non-violence, Filep Karma spent years calling for "a dignified dialogue with the Indonesian government."

Six elite troops have been arrested and accused of involvement in the killing of four indigenous Papuans.

The killings came amid protests over an Indonesian government plan to create new provinces in the eastern region.

A plan to create three new provinces in the Papua region highlights how Jakarta's development approach has failed to resolve a long-running conflict.

The plan to break Papua and West Papua into five provinces has spurred widespread protests in the eastern region.

The attack came on the same day that a group of U.N. experts called out Indonesia's "shocking abuses" in the eastern province.

Human rights specialists noted a deterioration in the security situation since the assassination of a high-ranking Indonesian intelligence officer last April.

Rights groups claim that the revised law could lead to “further marginalization and militarization in the region.”

The reports follows Indonesian government promises of a crackdown on separatist fighters in the eastern region.

Labeling the West Papua National Army-Free Papua Organization a terrorist outfit complicates future conflict resolution efforts.

The uneasy region seems set for another cycle of military crackdowns and separatist counter-attacks.

Attacks by rebels in several districts in Papua have increased over the past year.

Benny Wenda has been a fierce advocate for the West Papuan cause. Why is it, then, that the proclamation of his presidency has been met with marked skepticism within West Papua?

Protests continue in West Papua as the Pacific Islands Forum seeks access to assess the human rights situation.