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| Pemakaman Mako tabuni (Ist) |
Canberra
called on Wednesday for an Indonesian inquiry into the killing of a
Papuan independence leader but could not say whether Australian-trained
counter-terrorism police were involved in the death.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr said senior Australian officials had pressed Indonesia
on the death in June of Mako Tabuni, a leader in Papua's fight for
independence from Jakarta allegedly killed by Indonesia's anti-extremist
squad.
Tabuni's supporters told Australian media
he was gunned down by plain-clothes officers from Detachment 88, a
counter-terrorism squad formed after the 2002 Bali bombings and partly
trained and resourced by Australia.
Carr said Australian police included human rights training in their work with the Indonesian police but "we don't run the counter-terrorism forces" and there was a limit to Canberra's responsibility for their activities.
He could not confirm whether
Detachment 88 had been involved in Tabuni's death but said several
top-level representations had been made to Jakarta calling for a "full
and open" investigation into the shooting.
"We think it would be in the
interest of Indonesia in particular and in the interest of their human
rights record in the Papuan provinces."
Carr stressed that the calls came
"in the context of us consistently recognising Indonesian sovereignty
over Papua, and at the same time asserting our right as a friend and a
neighbour to raise human rights issues".
"Even when they're dealing with
people who may have used violent means, who are accused of using violent
means, our strong position with Indonesia is that the legal process
should be open and that the people accused of these offences should be
treated with due process," he said.
Carr said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa had been "very responsive".
Australian police said it only
provided funding to the Indonesian forces for specific counter-terrorism
initiatives, though it had "gifted" cars, telecoms and computer
equipment worth Aus$314,500 (US$325,810) over two years.
"The Australian Federal Police is
not aware, nor been informed, that Detachment 88 is specifically
targeting independence leaders in Papua and West Papua," it said in a
statement.
