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Republic of West Papua Republik Papua Barat | |
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Capital-in-exile | Jayapura |
Government | Indonesian occupation |
The Republic of West Papua is an Indonesian-occupied territory located on the western half of the island of New Guinea.[1]
History
West Papua was initially colonized by the Dutch. In the 1930s, the world's largest gold and copper deposits were discovered in there. Throughout the 1950s, Indonesia sent small invasion forces into West Papua, which the Dutch always captured and deported back to Java.[1]
In 1959, after Indonesia's independence, John Henderson, a lawyer at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta proposed a UN takeover that would give West Papua to Indonesia and allow the USA to replace the Dutch as its rulers. In December 1991, three months after the UN Secretary-General was killed, Indonesia invaded West Papua in Operation Trikora. In August 1962, the Dutch colonial forces surrendered to Indonesia, and West Papua became a UN trusteeship.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Andrew Johnson (2024-12-07). "West Papua, an Australian and UN crime scene" MR Online.