By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania
PORT VILA, Vanuatu – The Vanuatu Free West Papua Association (VFWPA) says it hopes to re-schedule a march in support of independence for the West Papuan people of Indonesia within the next two weeks.
The VFWPA had planned a march for West Papua on February 22, 2010, which is Vanuatu’s public holiday, Lini Day.
The VFWPA has been collaborating with the Vanuatu Christian Council (VCC), the National Council of Chiefs, the Vanuatu Council of Trade Unions (VCTU), and other civil society groups to organize a peaceful march in Port Vila to demonstrate the continued support of the people of Vanuatu for the independence of West Papua, and to present a petition to Prime Minister Edward Natapei and the Vanuatu government urging greater support for West Papuan independence.
The VFWPA has been working closely with the VCC and other civil society representatives to raise awareness through church networks about the march in support for West Papuan independence.
The VCTU has also been urging all union members to participate in the march and the petition.
The mach was planned to start at Chantilly’s on Fatumaru Bay at 9:00am on Monday, February 22, and would end at Seafront Stage, where Prime Minister Edward Natapei was to receive the petition. Members of the stakeholder organizations which are co-sponsoring the action, and members of the general public, were invited to assemble at Fatumaru Bay by 8:00am on Monday.
The march was scheduled for Lini Day in recognition of the late Father Walter Lini’s famous statement that “so long as any Pacific Islands remain colonized, none of us are free.”
The march would have been the first time in many years that a public rally was staged in support of the West Papua cause.
Despite the efforts of the VFWPA, the march was cancelled because the organizers failed to submit a permit application to the police in time. The VFWPA plans to re-schedule the march within the next two weeks.
The chairman of the VFWPA, Alain Nafuki, says that the march for West Papuan self-determination could be the biggest in Vanuatu’s history.
He stated: “The government has diplomatic ties with the Indonesian government and they’re maybe a little bit too reserved on that. But we, the people from the street, we are free to decide on what we want to deliberately say to the government about the situation in West Papua.”
For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – More plans for West Papua march in Vanuatu despite police cancellation of today’s event – 22 February 2010
Islands Business – March in support of West Papua’s struggle for independence – 19 February 2010
Pacific.Scoop – Peaceful march for West Papuan Independence – 17 February 2010
