Apart from reviewing preparations for organizing the multi-sport events, TNI Commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto and National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo were also scheduled to meet with security personnel and Papuan figures in Sentani on Thursday.
Securing the convening of this year's national multi-sport events, in which selected athletes and officials from across Indonesian provinces will be participating, is deemed necessary.
To this end, the XVII Cenderawasih Regional Military Command and Papua Police will jointly secure them, Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mathius Fakhiri noted in a statement that ANTARA quoted in Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province, on Thursday.
Fakhiri stated that Papua's security condition remains relatively conducive, as security personnel from the Nemangkawi Task Force continue their law enforcement operations against armed Papuan terrorist groups in Puncak District.
"May normalcy soon be restored in the security situation in Puncak District, so that local communities are able to resume activities without fear," he stated.
Over the course of the last few years, armed Papuan terrorist groups have also employed hit-and-run tactics against Indonesian security personnel and mounted acts of terror against civilians in the districts of Intan Jaya, Nduga, and Puncak to create a sense of fear among the people.
Construction workers, motorcycle taxi (ojek) drivers, teachers, students, street food vendors, and also civilian aircraft were the recent targets of such terror acts.
On December 2, 2018, a group of armed Papuan rebels brutally killed 31 workers from PT Istaka Karya that were engaged in the construction of the Trans Papua project in Kali Yigi and Kali Aurak in Yigi sub-district, Nduga District.
On the same day, the armed attackers also killed a soldier, identified as Handoko, and injured two other security personnel, Sugeng and Wahyu.
Such acts of violence have continued this year. On January 6, 2021, at least 10 armed separatist terrorists vandalized and torched a Quest Kodiak aircraft belonging to the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) on the Pagamba village airstrip.
On February 8, 2021, a 32-year-old man was shot at close range in Bilogai Village, Sugapa Sub-district.
The victim, identified by his initials as RNR, sustained gunshot wounds on the face and right shoulder and was shifted to the Timika Public Hospital in Mimika District on February 9.
In a separate incident on February 9, six armed Papuans fatally stabbed a motorcycle taxi (ojek) driver.
On April 8, 2021, several armed Papuan rebels opened fire at a kiosk in Julukoma Village, Beoga Sub-district, Puncak District.
The shooting resulted in the death of a Beoga public elementary school teacher, identified as Oktovianus Rayo.
After killing Rayo, the armed attackers torched three classrooms at the Beoga public senior high school.
On April 9, 2021, armed separatists reportedly fatally shot another teacher, Yonatan Randen, on the chest.
Two days later, nine classrooms at the Beoga public junior high school were set ablaze by an armed group.
Barely four days later, Ali Mom, a student of the Ilaga public senior high school in Beoga Sub-district, was brutally killed by armed attackers.
On April 25, 2021, Papuan separatists operating in Beoga ambushed State Intelligence Agency (Papua) Chief Maj. Gen. I Gusti Putu Danny Karya Nugraha and several security personnel while they were visiting Dambet Village.
Following Nugraha's fatal shooting, President Joko Widodo ordered the TNI and National Police to track down and arrest all members of armed separatist and terrorist groups operating in Papua while stressing that there is no place for them within the Indonesian territory. Related news: PON Papua will be held on schedule, sports minister assures
Related news: Security personnel challenged to secure Papua's PON National Games
EDITED BY INE
Translator: Evarukdijati, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
