Thousands mourn as independence leader buried

Mourners wept and flung themselves across the casket of Theys Eluay today as more than 10,000 supporters from Irian Jaya province attended a funeral in the slain independence leader’s home town of Sentani.

Hundreds of police and soldiers stood guard. Others manned road blocks, confiscating knives and slingshots from attendants.

Eluay, 64, was kidnapped and killed on November 10. An autopsy report said he had been strangled. Nobody has claimed responsibility but his family and members of the independence movement have accused the military of being behind it.

Senior officers - who met Eluay just before his death - have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Thousands of people have been killed in the province since Indonesia occupied the former Dutch colony in 1963.

Its sovereignty was formalised in 1969 after about 1,000 village chiefs were canvassed by the Indonesians, allegedly delivering a unanimous vote for integration.

But human rights groups say the ballot was a sham and a ragtag guerrilla band has been fighting for independence ever since.

Indonesia’s former President Abdurrahman Wahid, who last year negotiated with Eluay, sent a wreath to the funeral. Current head of state Megawati Sukarnoputri, who ordered a security crackdown against separatist leaders, has not commented on the death.

People from all corners of the remote province also known as Papua - came to attend today’s ceremony in Eluay’s home town of Sentani. Many walked for days while others packed onto the back of trucks. Whole families of four or five squeezed onto motorbikes.

They climbed trees and sat on top of roofs to watch the funeral in the hot tropical heat. Many men were bare chested with traditional grass skirts around their waists. Women had feathers in their hair and strings of shells around their necks. Some carried bows and arrows.

Draped over the coffin was the independence movement’s Morning Star flag.

A top member of the independence movement, Willy Mandoen, blamed rogue elements within Indonesia’s army for Eluay’s death. He said they wanted to cause unrest in order to retain lucrative security deals with businesses operating in the troubled region.

Mandoen claimed that the armed forces were concerned by suggestions that energy giant BP which is preparing to tap vast natural gas supplies in the west of the province may not ask military protection.

The company is currently carrying out extensive consultations with local villagers to bolster stability in the region.

An American mining company, New Orleans-based Freeport McMoRan Cooper-and-Gold Inc, also operates in the province.

Its gold and copper mine the largest in the world - has long been a source of resentment by indigenous people who complain that they see little of the wealth gained from it.

There have been a series of bloody clashes between separatists and security forces in areas surrounding the mine.