JAKARTA, Indonesia — A member of an armed separatist group in Indonesia’s Papua region has disputed police claims that it’s holding villagers hostage during a standoff with security forces. The two sides are also waging a PR war, with police calling the group an armed criminal gang and accusing it of attacks on civilians. A low-level insurgency for independence has simmered in Papua since it was transferred from Dutch to Indonesian rule in 1963. Wanmang said police descriptions of TNP as an armed criminal group and accusations of crimes against civilians were a tactic to discredit the Papuan independence movement. “We are not a new group, we are not a criminal group,” he said.

Source: National Post November 10, 2017 09:19 UTC