You're listening to a podcast from the BBC World Service. This is Hard Talk with me, Stephen Sacker.

Thanks for downloading this edition of the program. I do hope you enjoy it.

Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker. My guest today has been

living in political exile in Oxford for more than 16 years. Beni Wender is from a remote village in West

Papua, a vast territory rich in tropical forest and mineral resources, which has been part of

Indonesia for the past five decades. And that, for Benny Wender and many Papuans, is the problem.

Having seen the back of the Dutch colonialists,

Papuans have long harboured dreams of independence. Since the late 60s, there have been sporadic

clashes between the Indonesian military and Papuan separatists, as Jakarta has sought to develop

the territory and extract its mineral wealth. When he was 28,

Benny Wenda was accused of crimes against the Indonesian state and was smuggled out of the territory

whilst on trial. Now he's the exiled leader of a liberation movement which claims to have

united all the Papuan separatist factions.

But are the separatists engaged in a struggle they can never win? Well, Benny Wender joins me now.

Welcome to Hard Talk. Thank you for having. Last month, we saw violent clashes between

Indonesian security personnel and civilians in West Papua.

There were a number of deaths, some very serious clashes. Now, the Indonesians say the situation is

now calm and order has been restored. You are in constant contact with West Papua. What do you believe is going on?

These situations exclaimed all the, you know, from Jakarta to West Papua because of, you know,

the Indonesian police and military and local civilians came to a student, West Papua student dormitory in Surabaya

and started accused them racist word monkey, dog and peak. That is a spark exclaimed

across the Indonesia, cross West Papua.

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