VZCZCXRO8853
OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHJA #2070/01 3510953
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 170953Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4153
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 002070 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, EAP/ANP, 
DI/IP/EAP/ DS/ITA/EAP 
NSC FOR D.WALTON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/17/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PNAT ASEC ID
SUBJECT: PAPUAN SEPARATIST LEADER KELLY KWALIK REPORTED 
KILLED IN SHOOTOUT WITH POLICE 
 
REF: JAKARTA 1561 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: Dep/Pol/C Daniel A. Rochman, reasons 1.4 (b+d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Indonesian police reportedly killed 
well-known Papuan separatist leader Kelly Kwalik during a 
December 16 shootout.  Kwalik is widely believed to have been 
involved in a series of shootings that targeted the Papua 
operations of U.S. mining company Freeport-McMoRan, including 
a 2002 attack that killed two Americans.  An Anti-Terrorism 
Assistance Program (ATA) trained Detachment 88 team conducted 
the raid on the house in Timika.  Some Papuans have 
peacefully protested the police action and maintained that 
Kwalik is innocent.  While Kwalik's death will be a blow to 
separatist groups, an unknown number of his associates remain 
at large, and further attacks are possible.  END SUMMARY. 
 
SHOOTOUT DURING EARLY MORNING RAID 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The Indonesian National Police (INP) appear to have 
killed Kelly Kwalik, a key leader of the Free Papua Movement 
(OPM), during a raid in the early morning of December 16. 
ATA-trained Detachment 88 and the INP's Mobile Brigade led 
the operation near Timika, a town on the southern coast of 
Indonesia's Papua province.  (Note:  Papua is the site of a 
low-level separatist insurgency, fueled by long-standing 
political and economic grievances among indigenous people. 
Efforts to address these grievances through a regional 
autonomy arrangement has been slow to produce results.) 
Police reportedly fired when Kwalik shot at them as they 
approached a house where he was staying.  According to 
sources, Kwalik sustained gunshot wounds to the chest and leg 
and died several hours later in a clinic operated by 
Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, which runs a large mine in 
the area. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Police officials cautioned that they could not 
definitively confirm Kwalik's identity until after conducting 
DNA and other forensic tests.  Our contacts in the Timika 
area all believe that Kwalik was killed in the raid.  Police 
also took five other people into custody during the raid, 
including a ten-year old boy.  They remain in custody in 
Timika where police are questioning them.  The police have 
not yet charged any of those detained nor provided any 
details about them. 
 
KWALIK SUSPECTED IN NUMEROUS INCIDENTS 
 
¶4.  (S) The INP believes Kwalik played a leadership role in a 
series of shooting attacks on Freeport that began July 11 
(see reftel).  The series of sixteen attacks killed one 
Australian and two Indonesians and left around 30 Indonesians 
wounded.  Brigadier General Tito Karnavian, commander of 
Detachment 88, told us that police had established Kwalik's 
involvement in the attacks through monitoring his mobile 
phone communications.  Papuan separatists frequently 
criticize Freeport and claim that the company does not 
provide any benefits to the Papuan people.  Prior to this 
series of shootings, armed attacks on the company's 
operations were rare. 
 
¶5.  (C) Kwalik also admitted involvement in a 2002 shooting 
near Timika that killed two Americans and one Indonesian 
during an interview with the FBI.  Several other perpetrators 
of that incident have been tried and remain in prison in 
Indonesia.  However, Kwalik managed to elude capture and has 
remained at large in the Timika area. 
 
TENSE REACTION IN TIMIKA 
 
¶6.  (C) Kwalik's death has raised tensions in the Timika 
area.  Several prominent Papuan traditional leaders and 
members of the Papuan People's Council (MRP) have asserted 
that Kwalik was not involved in the recent shootings. 
Instead, they point to an alleged feud between the police and 
military--a popular but unsubstantiated view among Papuans. 
Throughout the day on Thursday, December 17, between 200 and 
300 people held a peaceful protest in front of the local 
legislative building in Timika.  Protest organizers 
maintained that Kwalik was innocent and criticized the police 
action.  While the situation in Timika remains tense, there 
have been no incidents of violence.  Civil society contacts 
in Timika told us that the police appear to be managing the 
situation well and acting with restraint. 
 
 
JAKARTA 00002070  002 OF 002 
 
 
THREATS REMAIN 
 
¶7.  (C) Kwalik's death will have some impact on the OPM's 
operational abilities but it does not eliminate the threat 
the group poses.  The OPM is a highly fractious and 
decentralized organization and other leaders remain at large 
across the province.  While Kwalik was a well-known and 
charismatic figure, it remains unclear that he had much 
direct operational control over the small bands of OPM 
fighters in jungles around Timika.  Moreover, we have no 
confirmation that the police have captured the individuals 
who actually carried out the attacks.  Further attacks, 
either on Freeport or the Indonesian security forces, thus 
remain a possibility. 
 
HUME