PAPUA -- AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL SLAIN IN ATTACKS NEAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001175 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/ANP, CA, DS/JP/EAP, DS/ITA/EAP: NSC FOR J. BADER E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/13/2019 TAGS: PGOV KDEM ASEC CASC ID SUBJECT: PAPUA -- AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL SLAIN IN ATTACKS NEAR U.S. MINE REF: JAKARTA 687 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Pol/C Joseph L. Novak, reasons 1.4(b+d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Unknown assailants killed two employees--including one Australian national--working for a U.S. mining company in separate July 11-12 attacks near the company's mining operations in Indonesia's Papua Province. No Americans were injured. Police have blamed separatists and reinforcements have been sent to the region. Phoenix-based Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold, Inc. is maintaining heightened security procedures in response to the attack. Australian police are assisting with the investigation. The attacks come amid increasing tensions in the region. Mission's Emergency Action Committee met July 13 to discuss the situation (see septel). END SUMMARY. TWO DEADLY ATTACKS ¶2. (SBU) The Papua region of eastern Indonesia has been the scene of violence again. The July 11 attack came at approximately 5:30 a.m. (local time) when unknown assailants fired on a Freeport vehicle traveling from Tembagapura to Kuala Kencana in southwestern coastal Papua. One Freeport employee--Australian national Drew Nicholas Grant--died in the attack. Although other Freeport employees were traveling in the same vehicle, they were not injured. (Note: Tembagapura is the highland town that supports Freeport's giant Grasberg mine. Kuala Kencana is Freeport-built suburb of Timika and the company's main base of operations in the lowlands. The attack came on a Freeport-maintained road that provides the only access to the mining operation. In mysterious circumstances, two Americans and one Indonesian were killed in the area in 2002.) ¶3. (SBU) A subsequent attack occurred around 8:45 a.m. (local time) on July 12, approximately two miles from the site of the July 11 shooting. In this incident, attackers fired on two vehicles carrying Freeport security and police officials. An Indonesian Freeport security employee died in the attack while five other Freeport employees were wounded. We have received reports that the police subsequently engaged suspected perpetrators of the second attack in a gun battle although this has not been confirmed. (Note: There are unconfirmed press reports that the body of one slain policeman has also been found in the region.) POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING ¶4. (C) Indonesian police are investigating the two attacks. Detachment-88, an elite U.S.-trained anti-terror unit, is leading the Indonesian police efforts. Police reinforcements have been sent to the region. Two Australian Federal Police officers are assisting with the investigation at the GOI's request. Police spokesmen have blamed the Free Papua Movement (OPM)--a loosely organized separatist movement--for the attacks although they have not yet made any arrests. We are not aware of anyone or any organization taking responsibility. FREEPORT UNDER LOCKDOWN ¶5. (C) According to our contacts with the company, Freeport remains under tight security restrictions while mine operations continue unaffected. The company has halted all nighttime travel on the road between Timika and Tembagapura and is allowing only essential travel, with armed escorts, during the day. Company officials told us that they are satisfied, so far, with security support from the Indonesian police. The company has not made any decisions to reduce personnel at the site or otherwise change its operational posture although company officials told us they are continuing to review their operations in light of security developments. INCREASING TENSIONS ¶6. (C) The attacks on Freeport operations come amid steadily increasing tensions in Papua, particularly in the central highland region. That area has witnessed a series of violent attacks following an apparent separatist raid on a police post in April (see reftel). Authorities have blamed that attack on a group of separatist fighters under Goliat Tabuni, a shadowy rebel commander although it is too early to tell whether the same group was behind the attacks on Freeport. JAKARTA 00001175 002 OF 002 ¶7. (C) While the OPM remains fractured and poorly organized, the group and its small band of supporters does tap into long-simmering resentment by a small minority of Papuans over what they assert is their region's economic and political marginalization. While they do not represent a threat to Indonesian control over the region, separatists--if they are indeed responsible--seem capable of inflicting damage and mayhem, as the recent attacks demonstrate. HUME