Defence Force may have known of West Papua atrocities

11.11.13

Defence Force may have known of West Papua atrocities: The Defence Department has issued a qualified denial of a claim made by the Asian Human Rights Commission that military aircraft supplied by Canberra were used in bombing runs over Papuan villages resisting Indonesian rule.

Defence told Fairfax Media that ''an initial search of Defence archives does not support the claim that two Iroquois helicopters were supplied by Australia to Indonesia in the 1970s''.

But it side-stepped questions about ADF knowledge of the alleged massacres detailed in the report. The commission claims, in a report released on October 24, that both US-supplied Bronco aircraft and Iroquois helicopters were used in bombing and strafing runs over Papuan villages that were suspected of aiding the Free Papua Movement (or OPM). It said at least 4000 and possibly up to 9000 Papuan civilians died in air and ground attacks launched by Indonesian troops in 1977-78.