Baliem Valley campaign

Baliem Valley campaign
Part of Operation Cenderawasih
The view of Baliem Valley
Location	Jayawijaya Regency, Irian Jaya, Indonesia
Date	July 1977 – August 1978
Target	OPM rebels Papuan civilians
Attack type	Bombings, mass killings, executions (including immolation and beheadings), enforced disappearances, torture, rape, looting and ecocide
Deaths	4,146 – 26,000+ people (including civilians and OPM rebels)
Victims	1,500 – 3,000+ displaced
Perpetrators	Indonesian Armed Forces Indonesian Army Indonesian Air Force
Motive	Counterinsurgency Anti-Christian sentiment genocidal intent (alleged)

The Baliem Valley campaign or also known as the Central Highlands campaign and the Baliem Valley massacre was a series of aerial and ground attacks by the Indonesian Armed Forces and Air Force against the OPM during Operation Cenderawasih, from July 1977 to August 1978, in the Baliem Valley of Western New Guinea. During the campaign the Indonesian Army allegedly committed attacks on civilian targets, as well as allegedly deliberately targeting valley’s ecosystem.^[1][2][3]

From September 1976 to May 1977 the Indonesian Army purchased 16 OV-10 Broncos from the United States in six batches.^[1][4]

In early 1977 Indonesia bought several Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters from Australia. The Royal Australian Air Force also sent several pilots for a six-week mapping exercise.

On 20 April OPM members attacked police officers at a football field in Kobakma killing one and injuring two others. Sometime after this an Indonesian soldier allegedly shot and killed a civilian, however the Indonesian Army denied any involvement in the shooting and claimed the man was killed in a tribal conflict.^[1] The next day the OPM launched several attacks on the military posts in Makki, Piramid and Kasuraga, they also attacked the villages of Wosilimo and Kimbim.^[1]

On 28 July the Kodam XVII/Cenderawasih bombed several villages in the southern Jayapura Regency killing at least 1,605 people. A RAAF pilot stationed in Timika allegedly witnessed the attack and gave information to an Australian journalist Robin Osborne. The attack was confirmed by the commander of Kodim 1702/Jayawijaya Albert Dien and United States senator John Glenn. They also added that the Indonesian Army also used two Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters in the attack.^[1]

On 29 July a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter designated A2-379 crashed into a ridge 15 km north of Wamena due to weather conditions instantly killing the pilot Lt. Ralph Nigel Keith Taylor and injuring the co-pilot Lt Greg Cashmere and, crewmen Patrick 'Paddy' Sinclair, Gary Jones and one other crewman. The wreckage was discovered the next day ridge at an altitude 3,000 meters after the survivors fired a signal flare at A2-.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

In early August an Australian Army Pilatus PC-6 Porter was shot at over the village of Warok.^[5][6]

It was reported that on 5 July 1977 over 1,000 villagers in the Yamsi-Arso border area were killed in several napalm attacks and bombings.^[1]

On 22 July, two OV-10 Bronco planes numbered S104 and S114 bombarded the Akimuga villages. The attack only ended after they ran out of ammunition, it's unclear how many people were killed in the attack. One witness was an Australian pilot, Terry Doyle who gave his information Robin Osbourne.^[1]

In July in the village of Wosilimo during a general election a group of 80 people were attacked by the Indonesian Army, several of the villagers were killed and around 30 of them were arrested, some of the bodies were thrown into a nearby river.^[1]

Between August and September Karubaga, Bokandini, Kulula, Pyramid and Mage were bombarded by the Indonesian Air Force. At around the same time 4,982 people were killed in aerial bombardments in Wamena and Jayawijaya.^[1][10]

In Tiom violence against the indigenous population was especially common. Papuans were sometimes attacked with axes, burned alive, sliced with razors and thrown in wells. A tribal leader in Dila, Nalogian Kibak was killed by the Indonesian Army and the military commander in Nabire, Lt. Col. Soekemi forced several tribal leaders, teachers and priests to drink Kibak's blood at gun point.^[1]

A 18-year-old man named Rocky testified to the Asian Human Rights Commission, that in his home village of Wosilimo over 1,700 people were killed, and that the Indonesian didn't allow food to be distributed, forcing the villagers to resort to eating leaves. This caused many people to flee the village including Rocky and his family who went to the village of Wolo, which had already had over 500 people killed and so they continued to the village of Kobakma. At some point Rocky’s brother surrendered to the Indonesian Army, he forced to dig a grave, he was buried up to his neck, the soldiers then placed wooden boards around his head and burned him alive. Others who surrendered were often executed on the spot, several Papuans who surrendered were stabbed with hot irons and thrown into the Baliem or Uwe rivers, and some were also boiled alive.^[1]

Rev. Matius Wenda, who was 8 or 9 at the time witnessed several atrocities, including massacres and other abuses. Wenda recalled that he witnessed several military officers force a husband and wife to have sexual intercourse in public under the threat of being killed, the act was filmed and sent to other Indonesians and people abroad to show that the Papuans were like 'animals', he also recalled that he witnessed several soldiers forcibly insert batteries into a woman's vagina while her husband was severely beaten.^[1]

One survivor witnessed Cmdr. Albert Dien summarily execute two civilians in Wamena sometime in 1977.^[1]

Sexual violence against women was common, some women had their breasts cut off and sometimes had their internal organs ripped out, many were also raped and often murdered, in some cases soldiers would force hot iron rods into women’s rectums until they died, pregnant women often had their stomachs cut open.^[11] In the village of Kuyawagi several pregnant women had their stomachs cut open with bayonets.^[1]

Violence against children was also common in one incident a child was beheaded, the severed head was then thrown into a fire, several other children were thrown into the fire and burned alive, a woman who was seven months pregnant was assaulted causing her to miscarry.^[1]

Four relatives of Hermanus Himan who had to flee his home village of Pupuba were killed by the Indonesian Army, the first one killed was a teacher, Stab who was buried alive in Wamena. Stab's brother Seklekema was killed at a bridge near Wamena and his body was dumped into a river. Another relative Bayuk was killed with an axe and then dismembered.^[1]

It’s believed the Indonesian Army massacred at least 90 people in the village of Korebago.^[6]

The OPM alleged that the Indonesian Army gunned down 1,012 people who were attending mass at a church in Kobakma, the Indonesian Army then burnt down the church and looted several homes which they would burn as well, the soldiers also destroyed farms and killed their livestock. The Indonesian Air Force also targeted the Kingmi Church in Bolakme, it's unclear if anyone was killed in the bombings. The craters left by the bombs are still visible in the form of small ponds.^[1]

Many Papuans fought back against the Indonesian Army throughout the campaign. One notable incident was when ten villagers in Pyramid stole several guns from the army, which they would use to kill five Indonesian soldiers. The following day the a unknown amount of villagers were massacred by the army in reprisal.^[1]

One survivor of a massacre described how civilians were lined up in a field and shot, the witness had survived by pretending to be dead.^[11]

At some point the villages of Hullatus and Piramid were burned to the ground.^[6]

A group Christian missionaries and an American civilian were allegedly forced by the military to fly over dangerous areas in the valley.^[6]

Several human rights groups have accused the Indonesian government of committing a genocide in the valley due to the deliberate killings and forcible relocation of Papuan civilians, as many were targeted for their ethnicity and or religion; churches and religious leaders were often targets for attacks.^[1][2]

After the campaign the Indonesian Army claimed they had never used cluster munitions and napalm against villages in the Baliem Valley.^[1]

The rainforest in the Baliem Valley was severely affected in the campaign as it was lit on fire by Indonesian soldiers several times, which caused people to accuse the military of ecocide.^[1][2]

Around half of the villages in the Baliem Valley were burned to the ground.^[6]

At least 1,500 Papuan refugees fled from West Papua, most of them going to Papua New Guinea, however it's believed up to 2,000 or 3,000 fled. Most of them fled from 20-25 June 1978. A nun who was interviewed by Peter Tatchell, was quoted as saying "I have been told by refugees coming over, of people being cast out to sea in canoes and dropped overboard in copra bags – of people being forced to dig their own graves and being shot into them. I have seen people who have had their eyes torn out by the Indonesians. I’ve heard of people being beaten and sent back to their villages as examples." The nun and her colleagues who had set up a quarantine camp to shelter refugees tried to get in contact with the United Nations, who sent several representatives to interview them and several refugees who were camping out on the PNG side of the border, the representatives concluded that the refugee's claims were genuine and couldn't return home and said that their lives "would be in jeopardy" if they were to attempt so. In September 1977 at least 700 refugees agreed to return to West Papua however were forced to flee again when they found out a platoon of soldiers was waiting for them. In another incident a group of refugees who were returning to West Papua were greeted by the military at an airstrip, the soldiers took them to a field behind the hangars and gunned them down with automatic weapons.^[1]

4,146 people are confirmed to have died, the highest esmitate places the number of Papuans killed at 26,000 Papuans. It’s believed 11,000 of which were killed in Jayawijaya and that 9,000 were killed in Wamena, Piramid, Kurulu, Kelila, Bokondini and Kobakama, and a further 2,000 were killed in the eastern area of the highlands. It’s also believed that 4,000 were killed in Wosilimo which would have been around 67% of Wosilimo’s population.^[1][2]

Over 1,000 OPM rebels and over 2,000 Indonesian soldiers were also killed. An Australian RAAF pilot Ralph Taylor also died during the campaign in a helicopter accident.^[5][6][7]

In 2013 the Asian Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights and Peace for Papua published The Neglected Genocide: Human Rights Abuses against Papuans in the Central Highlands, 1977-1978, which documented the accounts of the victims of the campaign. The names of the 4,146 known victims was also published.^[1]