Laurie Spurr, Torre Pellice, Italy, July 11 (ENI) - A church leader and human rights activist from the Indonesian province of Papua is urging international mediation to settle the question of statehood for the territory, where an independence struggle has been continuing for 40 years.

Dr Karel Phil Erari, national coordinator of the national forum of concern on human rights and reconciliation in Papua, said he wanted to see independence for Papua, formerly called Irian Jaya, after a period of self-determination, but at a prudent pace.

He said human rights organizations and churches wanted to avoid a bloody civil war like the one suffered by the former Portuguese territory of East Timor on its way to independence, finally gained from Indonesia last year.

"We need a third party to settle this," said Erari, of the Evangelical Christian Church in Irian Jaya, who was interviewed by ENI on Thursday during a meeting of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in Torre Pellice, Italy.

On Monday, police in the in the highland town of Wamena in central Papua killed a man and wounded several others who were trying to raise the Morning Star flag, the symbol of independence for Papua province, which is forbidden under Indonesian law.

The Indonesian government has ruled out independence for Papua, but has granted some autonomy to the province whose inhabitants have predominantly Christian and animist beliefs, as opposed to the rest of Indonesia which is mostly Muslim.

Hundreds of different languages are spoken in Papua, and the people represent many ethnic groups. Still, Erari maintained, the province was distinct from the rest of Indonesia. "We are Melanesians," he said. "We are not Indonesian, not Malays. We have our own main culture."

The Indonesian-ruled province of Papua lies to the west of Papua New Guinea on the world's second biggest island after Greenland, and is about 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) east of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital.

It came under Indonesian rule in 1963, and it annexation was ratified in 1969 by a UN-supported referendum marred, according to many observers, by acts of intimidation. In the years leading up the referendum, many of those considered to be separatist rebels were killed or abducted, Erari said, never to be seen again.

"If [Papuans] want independence, fine," he said. "But we have to prepare all the people for it," including "training, so that we can talk to Jakarta about human rights violations and the status of Papua".

In anticipation of a meeting with the government, the Papuan Participatory Government Forum has been set up by the United Nations Development Programme and the national planning development board. The forum's first meeting is scheduled for August.

"At the end, I hope that this process could be seen as a way to manage conflict in Papua without suppression," said Erari. "I hope that through a democratic process we arrive at something that can be respected. If you want to gain something, you have to work through processes." [504 words]

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