Children end up in the crossfire in West Papua and on 27 October a 2-year-old infant was killed, and a baby seriously injured due to an Indonesian ground operation.

“My people are screaming for help. Where is the world?” Benny Wenda, West Papuan leader in exile and President of the West Papuan interim government, says in a statement.

By Klas Lundström

WEST PAPUA | Civilians have been killed, harassed, and injured during military operations in West Papua, conducted by the Indonesian military (TNI).

On 27 October, 2-year-old Nopelinus Sondegau was killed during a TNI ground operation in Intan Jaya regency, according to several consistent sources who have reached out to Global Magazine.

Along with the death of Nopelinus Sondegau, another child, age unknown, was severely injured.

The children were part of a refugee caravan seeking refuge in neighboring Papua New Guinea when TNI attacked them, according to numerous sources.

“My people are screaming for help. Where is the world?” Benny Wenda, West Papuan exile leader and President of West Papua’s interim government pending, asks in a statement.

“Killings are happening under the eye of the world”

Since the current and ever-escalating armed conflict broke out in December 2018, hundreds of documented deaths of civilian West Papuans have been documented by human rights organizations.

The fate of numerous civilians’ whereabouts, though, remain unknown, and some 40,000 civilian internally displaced people have taken refuge in dilapidated refugee camps, with little humanitarian assistance due to Indonesia’s blocked doors for global aid organizations.

Independent West Papuan news outlet Saura Papua has reported on civilians who have fallen in the line of fire in connection with regular firefights in the central highlands between the guerrilla organization Papua Merdeka (OPM) and TNI.

“These killings are happening under the eye of the world while the Indonesian President Joko Widodo and ministers pretend that nothing is happening during talks with Pacific and Melanesian leaders,” says Benny Wenda.