Indonesia orders ICRC out of Papua over jail visits

[Coventina]

Source: Reuters

JAKARTA, April 23 (Reuters) - Indonesia has ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to leave the politically sensitive Papua region after its officials visited separatists in jail, the foreign ministry said.

Papua, the underdeveloped but resource-rich western half of New Guinea island where independence activists have waged a separatist campaign for decades, is geographically isolated and foreign journalists need special permission to visit.

There is a strong military and police presence in Papua, especially around the huge Grasberg copper and gold mine. Police recently shot demonstrators calling for a boycott of Indonesia's April 9 parliamentary election.

Foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said that the government was offended both by the ICRC's failure to obtain proper permission to operate in Papua and by the prison visits.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSJAK434532._CH_.2400

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:mad:

[grantcart]

1. Its unfortunate and short sighted. The ICRC confidentially reports to the

head of the government what they find so that they can be informed what is actually happening in the prisons.

The ICRC never leaks any of its results and only two copies of the report are made.