West Papua Action Auckland ,

Box 68-419,

Auckland .

8 December 2014

Media Release: West Papuan leader Octovianus Mote visits Auckland following historic unification meeting.

Octo Mote is a West Papuan leader living in exile. He has just been elected Secretary- General of the brand new United Liberation Movement for West Papua. He is visiting Auckland after participating in a historic unification meeting held in Vanuatu last week. At this meeting the leaders of different groups signed a mutual declaration agreeing on the way forward for the West Papuan resistance. The elected leaders, including Octo, will steer the Movement’s international diplomacy and approaches to the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

Octo has been involved in this international work for some time and he was also part of the Papuan Peace Negotiating Team set up after a Peace Conference held in Jayapura, West Papua, in July 2011.

Octo is based in the United States and is a Senior Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School. He was formerly head of the Papua Bureau of Kompas, the largest Indonesian daily newspaper. Following a meeting between 100 Papuan leaders (Tim 100) and Indonesian President B.J. Habibie in 1999, Octo was forced to leave Papua due to death threats from the Indonesian security services.

Octo is available for interview on Wednesday 10 December and will address a Human Rights Day public meeting:

7pm, Wednesday 10 December St Columba Centre, 40 Vermont St, Ponsonby.

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