• "Freeport called the army in after a mine employee, Mr Gordan Rumaropen, was shot dead as he walked along a road near Tembagapura. Freeport and ABRI have claimed Mr Rumaropen was murdered by OPM fighters and that this was confirmed by an American witness, Mr Pat Harris, a mine contract worker."
• "However, according to well-placed Freeport sources, Mr Harris believes Mr Rumaropen was killed by troops from a nearby ABRI base. Moreover, Mr. Harris believes the troops tried to kill him as well because he was potentially a witness."
• "Mr. Harris, who was driving to Tembagapura, heard a loud noise a few hundred metres before the spot where Mr Rumaropen lay dead."
• "He saw two armed men wearing camouflage clothes and masks disappear into the vegetation. He felt a sharp pain in his leg and realized he had been shot, but drove on through a group of armed ABRI troops gathered near Mr Rumparopen's body."

• "In Banti village, the people no longer drink from the Agamgong River. What was once clear, sparkling water is today a grey, smelly sludge because tailings are dumped into the river from the mine in the mountains above."
• "Freeport has not had to pay a cent in mining royalties or compensation to the Amungme, between 3000 and 5000 of whom have been displaced from its 2.4 million hectare concession area since mining began in 1972. Many have moved to the lowlands - sometimes at the end of ABRI guns - where malaria and other diseases they had no immunity to killed hundreds in the late '70s and early '80s." (I'm not sure about royalty payments, but Freeport states that it has voluntarily spent $100 million on community development in the mine area. -- rsb)
• "Residents live in ramshackle huts, children scrounge for scraps of food along the roads, malnutrition is prevalent and preventable diseases such as gastroenteritis reap a grim toll."
• "However, a leading Catholic clergyman in Irian Jaya (West Papua), Brother Theo van Der Broeck, claims the bishop was misrepresented. `What we've said is there is no proof of direct involvement, but that does not mean Freeport is not cooperating with the military.', Van der Broeck says."
• "By the company's own calculations, 133 sq. km of rainforest is expected to be destroyed before the century is out."

"The meeting between Freeport Chief Executive Jim Bob Moffett and leaders of the tribal people living in the vicinity of the Freeport copper and gold mine took place in Timika this morning, Saturday, 13 April from 8 - 10.30am.

"Present at the meeting were Moffett and Paul Murphy from the company, tribal leaders from the Amungme, Ekari, Moni, Dani and Nduga people, Irian Jaya (West Papua) governor Jacob Pattipi, military commander Major-General Dunidja and other officials.

"The meeting was opened by the Governor who said he was attending even though he was very ill at present. His opening statement is said to have been very emotional and tearful.

"Moffett then stood up and handed over an envelope with the company's response to Viktor Beanal, leader of the Amungme people. The contents of the envelope were not read out and there was no discussion. In his remarks, Moffett addressed some words to Yosepha Alomang who had made such an angry contribution at the meeting a month ago about throwing Moffett out of her 'noke', the traditional Amungme bag which women carry. He asked her whether she would now 'put him back in her bag', to which she responded that everything depended on his reply to her people's demands.

"Nothing further is known about the meeting except that there was no discussion about the company's response which were, in any case, not revealed at the time.

"We hope to be able to post the company's response in the next few days."

• "Jim Bob Moffett, chairman of Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. of New Orleans, and 40 Irian Jaya (West Papua) tribal leaders reached the accord after an hourlong meeting, said Tom Benal of the Lemasa Institute ..."
• "Under the agreement, signed by Moffett and Irian Jaya (West Papua) Gov. Jacob Patipi, the mine accepted tribal demands for an environmental audit possible cleanup (sic), more jobs for area villages, and 1 percent of Freeport's annual gross profit -- about $17 million -- to be earmarked for social and educational programs for tribesmen."

• "Thousands of Indonesian troops and police were guarding the mining town of Timika in Irian Jaya (West Papua) as James Moffet, chief executive of the New Orleans-based Freeport McMorran mining company met with local tribesmen Saturday, a local church source told AFP by phone."
• "`Almost every house of the Amungme (the local ethnic population in Timika) are guarded by around six armed soldiers. While the situation is still calm, the people are restless,' said the source, who was present at the meeting."
• "The meeting had gone ahead despite local people's request that it be postponed. They felt intimidated by the heavy military build up in the area which reached a peak Saturday."

• "the military trials related to the killing of only three people during one incident: meanwhile other confirmed human rights violations in Irian Jaya (West Papua) remain uninvestigated and their perpetrators have not been held accountable"
• "In view of these concerns, Amnesty International believes that the military investigation and the resulting trials of the four soldiers have been an inadequate response to the human rights violations found to have been committed in Irian Jaya (West Papua) since October 1994. The organization therefore urges the Indonesian Government to ensure that the trials of the four soldiers are not the end of the process, and calls on the government to initiate full, independent and impartial investigations into all of the reported human rights violations in Irian Jaya (West Papua), and to bring to justice those responsible in trials which meet with internationally accepted standards for fair trial."
• "in relation to the earlier Komnas HAM inquiry, Amnesty International expressed concern that excessive military surveillance, fear of military reprisals and intimidation of witnesses undermined the Commissions efforts to investigate fully reports of human rights violations in Irian Jaya (West Papua). The organization remains concerned that the persistence of such conditions - largely caused by the military presence in the area - make it unlikely that the military authorities could conduct a full or impartial investigation into abuses by its own members."
• " based on the reports published by the Jayapura Catholic Church and Komnas HAM, Amnesty International is concerned that the apparent findings of the military investigation does not accurately reflect the full scale of the human rights violations which took place in the village of Hoea on 31 May or 1 June 1995, and elsewhere in Irian Jaya (West Papua) from October 1994."
• "Pomdam (the military police) does not appear to have taken note of calls by local people in Irian Jaya (West Papua) and domestic non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for an investigation into the role of the mining company, Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Corporation, in the human rights violations. (Komnas HAM announced on 7 March 1996 that it would send another investigation team to Irian Jaya (West Papua) to investigate reports of human rights violations. The announcement came after a delegation of leaders from Irian Jaya (West Papua)'s Amungme tribe complained to Komnas HAM of Freeports involvement in the abuses.)"

• "Freeport last year picked U.S.-based firm Dames and Moore to conduct independent environmental studies of its operations in Irian Jaya (West Papua)."
• "``The audit team concludes that PT Freeport Indonesia, by accepting the audit team recommendations, is moving towards best practice in environmental management,'' Ros Kelly, a consultant from Dames and Moore, told a news conference in Jakarta."
• "``Until two years ago waste management was not a high priority for PT Freeport Indonesia. There has since been a complete turnaround with installation of sewage treatment plants, engineered landfills, incinerators, waste oil recycling and other initiatives,'' Kelly said."
• "Dames and Moore said in its report that in 1990 there was a blockage of the main Ajkwa channel, which caused the tailings-bearing river to flow across an extensive area.
  ``As a consequence of this overland flow, lowland vegetation was severely impacted over an area covering some 30 km square kilometres (11.25 square miles). This represents the most serious impairment to date,'' said the report."

• "the settlement reinstates the company's (Freeport's) insurance (with OPIC) until the end of this year. Murfy Alexander, director of communications for the agency (OPIC) said the policy would terminate then and cannot be renewed."
• "As part of the settlement, Freeport agreed to create a trust fund of $100 million by making annual contributions, starting immediately. The fund will be used to finance `environmental remediation initiatives.'"
• "The settlement ends arbitration that Freeport initiated ..." (after the OPIC cancellation of Freeport's insurance).

• "The complaint charges Freeport under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 and the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1992, which lets aliens sue in U.S. courts for violations of international law."
• "About 20 suits have been brought under one or both of the laws since 1980, said Harold Koh, director of Yale Law School's center for international human rights."
• "Koh said almost all the previous suits were brought against foreign government officials. However, he said a claim against a private entity is `not unprecedented.'"

If a public official directly or indirectly has a pecuniary interest in a contract, no matter how honest he may be, (emphasis added), and although he may not be influenced by the interest, such a contract so made is violative of the spirit and letter of our law, and is against public policy.

Cunningham eventually resigned from Freeport's Board of Directors after the company threatened to take appropriate legal action against certain U.T. professors if they continued to make certain allegations of the company's involvement in environmental and human rights abuses in Indonesia. Cunningham cited a direct conflict of interest in serving as an officer of the company planning to sue U.T. professors."