Right now, we have not yet decided when exactly thousands of military and police personnel will be pulled out
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - Security agencies have yet to make a decision on calling back military and police personnel deployed to reinstate security in Papua and West Papua after a wave of violence in the provinces.

"Right now, we have not yet decided on when exactly thousands of military and police personnel will be pulled out," Chief of the National Police General Tito Karnavian remarked during the signing of a peace declaration in the Papua provincial capital of Jayapura on Thursday night.

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Karnavian emphasized that personnel will be withdrawn only if the provinces are secure.

The assignment of security personnel targets preventing the conflict from snowballing, so that the situation can be brought under control, and the public can feel a sense of security, he stated.

The police chief expressed gratitude to God for the current relatively safe situation in Papua and West Papua. "A huge thanks to the regional governments, figures from various ethnic groups, and religious figures, who have contributed to maintaining security and allowing us to continue to maintain security," he stated.

A string of violent rallies erupted in several parts of Papua and West Papua in the upshot of the alleged racist slurs against Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, on August 16.

In the West Papua provincial capital of Manokwari, a rally against the alleged racist slurs took a violent turn on August 19, with some protesters setting ablaze a local parliamentary building and tires in several parts of the city.

A violent rally again erupted in the Papua provincial capital of Jayapura on August 29. The brutal demonstrators went on a rampage, vandalizing and setting fire to several government buildings.

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Translator: Evarukdijati/Suharto
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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