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Posted on 11/11/2001 9:47:07 PM PST by Freedom of Speech Wins

Sunday November 11 9:57 AM ET

Indonesia Independence Leader Killed

By LELY T. DJUHARI, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - The leader of the main independence movement in Indonesia's rebellious Irian Jaya province was kidnapped and killed, police said Sunday. Theys Eluay's widow blamed security forces, and riots erupted as news of his death spread.

Villagers found Eluay's body in his wrecked car in a ravine 18 miles east of the provincial capital, Jayapura. Police said it appeared he was strangled and that his assailants tried to make his death look like an accident by pushing the car off a remote stretch of road.

``The autopsy has not been completed yet, but we have suspicions that he was strangled with rope,'' said Jayapura Police Chief Lt. Col. Daud Sihombing. He said police had no suspects and the motive was unclear.

Eluay died hours after dining Saturday night with local Indonesian military officers. He had been free on bail while facing trial on subversion charges that carried a maximum prison term of 20 years.

Independence supporters set fire to a hotel, a market and a bank near Jayapura's airport Sunday. Others blocked roads with burning tires and threw rocks at police, who responded with warning shots. There were no reports of injuries, and police dispersed the crowds around dusk.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Eluay's widow, Yaneke, accused Indonesia's security forces of being behind his death. Senior officers in Indonesia's military, which has long been accused of human rights abuses, refused to comment.

Relatives said Eluay and his driver were on their way back from Jayapura to Eluay's house in nearby Sentani late Saturday after having dinner with a military chief. The driver, Aristoteles Masoka, called Eluay's wife on a cell phone and said they had been ambushed and abducted.

``My son called with his mobile phone but in mid-conversation, the connection was broken,'' Masoka's father, Yonas Masoka, told AP. The driver's body was not in the wrecked car with Eluay, police said.

Eluay, 64, was the head of the separatist Papuan Presidium Council and was leading a campaign for an independence referendum in Irian Jaya, which covers the western half of New Guinea island and is home to huge mineral and petroleum resources.

Anti-Indonesian protests and separatist fighting have wracked Irian Jaya for years. It is one of several provinces where political movements and armed rebels are fighting for independence from sprawling Indonesia.

Thousands have been killed in troubled regions as Indonesia struggles with a difficult transition to democracy and a crippling economic crisis that followed three decades of military-backed dictatorship under former President Suharto (news - web sites), who was forced from power in 1998.

Local and foreign rights activists had criticized Eluay's prosecution and accused Indonesia of muzzling free speech in Irian Jaya, 2,500 miles east of Jakarta.

But Eluay also had foes within his independence movement. Many activists questioned his tactics and were angered by his attempts to maintain dialogue and build ties with some Indonesian generals and officials.

Earlier this year, the Indonesian government paid for months of hospital treatment for Eluay, who had suffered from heart trouble and diabetes.

It was unclear what effect Eluay's death would have on the independence struggle in Irian Jaya. The separatist movement is a loose coalition that had been making little headway toward self-rule, and Eluay's illness had loosened his grip on leadership.

Indonesia annexed the former Dutch colony in 1969 after a U.N.-sanctioned vote for integration by about 1,000 tribal leaders. Critics have dismissed the process as a sham.

A traditional tribal elder and politician, Eluay supported the vote for Indonesian rule and served on a local pro-Indonesian legislative council for 15 years.

However, he began calling for independence after he failed to win re-election to the council in the 1980s and later declared himself leader of West Papua, as separatists call the state they want to establish.

On Dec. 1, 1999, Eluay and some supporters raised an outlawed West Papua independence flag in Jayapura. He was later arrested and charged with subversion.

Dozens of people have been killed in the last year in clashes between Indonesian security forces and rebels often armed with spears, bows and arrows.

The guerrillas claim widespread support among native Papuans, who are poorer than immigrants from elsewhere in Indonesia. Christians are a majority in Irian Jaya, while Indonesia as a whole is mostly Muslim.

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