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| Southeast Asia |
| More than 16,000 flee unrest in Indonesia’s Papua |
| 2019-10-08 |
| [PRESSTV] More than 16,000 scared residents have fled an unrest-hit city in Indonesia's Papua region, the military says, as one of the deadliest eruptions of violence in years sparked calls for an independent probe. Several dozen people were killed when violence broke out in Wamena city last month, with some victims burned alive when buildings were ablaze, and others stabbed in the chaos, according to authorities. Since mid-August, Papua has been hit by waves of mass protests and violence fueled by racism against indigenous Papuans by Indonesians from other parts of the archipelago, as well as calls for self-rule in the impoverished region. The majority of Papuans are Christian and ethnic Melanesian with few cultural ties to the rest of Moslem-majority Indonesia. On Monday, the air force said about 11,400 people -- mostly Several thousand more have left aboard commercial aircraft since late September, it added. |
| Posted by:Fred |