KKB Terror Makes Tembagapura Residents Yet to Return Home

Papua Regional Police Chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw said hundreds of residents from the Tembagapura District who had been displaced to Timika had not been able to return to their respective villages. Because, the Armed Criminal Group aka KKB is still around their village.

Paulus received a report that the KKB led by the commander of the Lenggagak Telenggeng operation was still in the area of ​​Kampung Aroanop, Tembagapura District.

"The results of our monitoring they are still around there, even they made a kind of temporary headquarters there," he said, Sunday, July 26, 2020.

Hundreds of residents from three villages in Tembagapura District, namely Waa-Banti, Opitawak and Kimbeli have been displaced since last February to Timika. They were evacuated to the city because the KKB entered their village and intimidated.

Paulus also asked residents to be patient and not return to their villages in the near future. "I understand very well the situation of the brothers from Tembagapura. We will soon discuss and discuss this well," he said.

Paulus explained there were pluses and minuses faced by Tembagapura residents who fled to Timika. "The lack of people must be difficult, they are experiencing temporary housing difficulties in Timika because of housing limitations, food logistics and others," he said.

On the other hand, said Paulus, by evacuating, residents of the three villages did not become victims of the KKB. "We all know that this armed group always uses the community as a life shield. It means that the community is always victimized," he said.

Paulus also stressed that his staff will continue to make strict efforts to the KKB so that they immediately leave the village area around Tembagapura.

"We will make efforts to immediately remove this armed group from the Tembagapura region so that the community can return to it. Remember that this group has a goal of being there," Paulus said.

The KKB, which is still in the Tembagapura District, is a combination of several groups, such as the Yambi Group in Puncak District, the Intan Jaya Group, the Ilaga Group, the Tembagapura Group itself and the Timika Coffee Kali Group.

Some time ago the KKB had issued an open statement to be ready to wage war with the TNI and Polri officers from the Grasberg Tembagapura mining area to the Mimika lowland region.