Short review: West Papua New Guinea

Abstract

In May and June of 1977 more than 1,000 people crossed the border between Indonesian West Irian and the recently independent state of Papua New Guinea, long an Australian protectorate. Since those border crossings, people have become increasingly aware of a previously unacknowledged, little-understood liberation movement to free West Irian (or West Papua New Guinea as the rebels call it) from Indonesian control.