Author: John Braithwaite, ANU

President Obama’s forthcoming trip to Indonesia is an opportunity to congratulate President Yudhoyono for the considerable success he has had as a peacebuilder. He was a worthy Nobel Peace Prize nominee for his contribution to peace in Aceh, and made admirable contributions to building peace in Ambon and Poso, among other places. He could never be a worthy Nobel winner, however, because of the situation in West Papua. President Obama’s visit is also an opportunity to confront the failure to grasp the nettle of peacebuilding in Papua.

The human rights and militarised violence situation in Papua is as bad today as it has been for some years, in the aftermath of a sequence of shooting incidents around the giant American Freeport mine. Read more…