Ethiopia, Indonesian Papua: these forgotten separatist conflicts

0

On February 23, Vladimir Putin recognized the two regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, both located in the Ukrainian Donbass, plagued by war and tensions since 2014 between pro-Russians and pro-Ukrainians. This statement then triggered the start of the war in Ukraine. But other parts of the world also face conflicts between the national government and separatist populations. Direction Ethiopia and Indonesian Papua.

>>54th day of war in Ukraine: follow our live

In Ethiopia, the de-escalation between the belligerents has begun

Since November 2020, a war has pitted the federal government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed against the Tigrayan rebels of the TPLF. A humanitarian truce was declared in March to begin a de-escalation. The Tigray region, ravaged by fighting and under humanitarian blockade for many months, is just beginning to receive food aid.

Three weeks ago 20 World Food Program (WFP) trucks arrived, last week 50 more. After more than four months of humanitarian blockade, these convoys are a sign that Tigray is gradually opening up, and that this humanitarian truce is giving concrete results in Ethiopia. But it’s far too little. The United Nations estimates that it would take, in fact, a hundred trucks a day to meet the needs of the 5 million Tigrayans trapped in the region. However, at present, only 70 trucks in total have made the trip in 4 months: the results on the ground show that they cover about 1% of needs. In the opinion of many diplomats and observers, this situation of humanitarian semi-blockade is moreover voluntarily maintained by the Ethiopian government in particular to avoid giving the rebels the opportunity to reorganize.

These convoys are for the moment the only result of negotiations between the authorities and the Tigrayan rebels. The talks, which are taking place behind the scenes, remain fairly sketchy for the moment. The region is therefore still trapped, under blockade, but above all without electricity, medicines, gasoline or telecommunications. A situation of siege, neither of war nor of peace, a latent conflict in a way. Sign of the fragility of the situation, the two camps continue to reposition their troops to prepare perhaps a new offensive.

And as the conflict subsides, a report by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accuses the Ethiopian authorities of ethnic cleansing in western Tigray. In a territory as large as Lebanon, disputed because it belonged to the Tigray region before the war and which then came under the control of the neighboring Amhara region. The report points to the responsibility of these Amhara and Ethiopian authorities, who would have systematically erased the presence of hundreds of thousands of Tigrayan citizens from this land. The examples are numerous: summary executions, torture, and the deportation by bus of at least 700,000 people. A possible crime against humanity according to the two organizations for the defense of human rights.

A silent conflict in Indonesian Papua

It is almost impossible for foreign journalists to travel to Indonesian Papua; the telephone and internet network is often very poor or non-existent. It is therefore without much noise that a conflict drags on there between the Indonesian central government and the separatist populations. Nothing new, because Papua has been the scene of regular clashes for 50 years.

To understand the anger of the Papuan people, you have to go back to 1969. The western part of this island under former Dutch colonial rule was then attached to Indonesia following a contested vote. Only 1,025 Papuans chosen by the Indonesian army were able to take part in this show of hands. Indonesian Papua has since been very militarized and its many natural resources arouse much covetousness. The Papuans on their side are less and less powerful on their ancestral lands because an intense movement of population migrations has taken place from the Indonesian islands of Java or Sumatra towards Papua. An increasingly explosive context for the UN Human Rights Council, which just last month mentioned in a press release abuses committed by the Indonesian army, murders of children, disappearances, torture and mass forced displacements of up to 100,000 people since December 2018. Allegations that the Jakarta government has been quick to call “unprofessional, ill-intentioned and unilateral”.

Since this press release, the violence has been exacerbated, on one side as on the other. For example, eight technicians from the national telecommunications company killed by Papuan rebels, and two Papuans killed during a demonstration. These are multiplying to protest against the Indonesian government’s plan to divide this region of Papua into six provinces.

A fragmentation project that looks like deja vu, explains Veronica Koman, an Indonesian lawyer specializing in Papua, to Amnesty International. “The Papuans see it as a tactic to militarize their region even more, because new provinces, that means new military staffs, police stations. And then these new provinces would be a new attraction factor for Indonesians from other islands come to settle in Papua.”

“To say that is not only theoretical, it is what happened when we went from a single administrative region in Papua to two regions. After that the Papuans became more and more of a minority in West Papua.”

Veronica Koman, lawyer

to Amnesty International

Amnesty International is also concerned about the operation of a gold mine and potential future land disputes, as it is located on ancestral Papuan lands.


source site-28