Papua rebels call for talks

Rebels in Indonesia’s Papua province are demanding that the government hold negotiations on their territory’s selfdetermination, and have warned of more attacks, following a raid on a construction site that left at least 16 dead. Sebby Sambom, spokesman for the West Papua National Liberation Army, the military wing of the Free Papua Movement, said yesterday it attacked the trans-Papua road construction site last weekend because it believed the project was being conducted by the military. Indonesia’s government, which for decades had a policy of sending Javanese and other Indonesians to settle in Papua to dilute the number of indigenous people, is now trying to spur economic development to dampen the separatist movement.