POWES PARKOP, governor of the National Capital District, will tell a high profile conference at Oxford University that the West Papua issue remains an obstacle to good relations and prosperity in the south-west Pacific.
Mr Parkop is speaking at the Road to Freedom conference and the organisers say he will put the strongest case so far that the people of Indonesia’s Papua region have the right to self-determination.
Mr Parkop says long-running security issues and human rights abuses in Papua have been a destabilising factor for the region.
“West Papua is an obstacle to this potential [for peace and prosperity],” he said.
“And for me, as a national leader in PNG, it is what I want to put forward to the Indonesians, that you are, by holding on to West Papua, hindering and stopping this potential.”
Source: Radio New Zealand International
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