Separatists and human rights activists fear that two important figures in Papua province are under death threats from Indonesian special forces, a Papuan priest and journalist has said in Dublin.
The alleged threat to the two activists - Mr John Bonay and Mr John Rumbiak of the Legal Aid Institute Papua ELS-HAM - arises from their rejection of the work of two Indonesian inquiries into the assassination last November of the disputed territory's venerated symbolic figure of independence, Theys Hiyo Eluay, who was 62.
Activists believe he was murdered by the military and an investigation by ELS-HAM indicated this. Local church leaders have written to President Megawati Sukarnoputri criticising military involvement in the inquiry.
Father Neles Tebay, a priest working for the past two years as a correspondent in the province for the Jakarta Post, said: "We can expect to see an attempt on the lives of Bonay and Rumbiak before March 7th" - when the present contingent of Kopassus special forces is expected to end its tour of duty in the territory.
The guest in Ireland of West Papua Action, Father Tebay last week met the Fine Gael and Labour spokesmen on foreign affairs, Mr Jim O'Keeffe and Mr Michael D. Higgins, besides NGOs and church figures.
On a visit to Ireland last April Mr Rumbiak met the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell.
Father Tebay said that as a member of the UN Security Council Ireland could take a leading role in putting West Papuan self-determination back on the UN agenda and drawing attention to human rights abuses there by Indonesian troops. About 100,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed, he said.
Papua was awarded to Indonesia in 1969 under an "Act of Free Choice", which has recently been authoritatively rejected as a sham.
Papuan separatists know it as the "Act of No Choice", in which 1,022 elders voted to exchange Dutch colonialism for Indonesian colonialism.
Many did so at the point of a gun, according to journalists at the time. But confirmation of the sham came last November when the then UN under-secretary general, Mr Chakravarthy Narasimhan, admitted the vote was a "whitewash".
Mr Narasimhan's statement was hailed by two former Irish foreign ministers, Mr David Andrews and Mr Dick Spring. Both also called for an independent inquiry into the Theys Eluay killing.