UN Bans Benny Wenda to Enter UN General Assembly

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Papuan figure Nick Meset ensured that the UN did not allow Benny Wenda and his entourage to enter the UN General Assembly hall and join a delegation from Vanuatu because he was not a citizen of  that small country.

“It is not true that Benny Wenda has joined the UN General Assembly as a member of Vanuatu’s delegation because the UN only allows state representatives to enter the UN General Assembly in New York,” Nick Meset told ANTARA on Sunday.

The rules applied by the United Nations are very strict. Only citizens can represent their countries and join the official delegations at the UN General Assembly, Meset remarked.

Nick Meset, who participated in as a member of the Indonesian delegation with Michael Manufandu, asserted that Benny Wenda and his colleagues were not permitted to enter the hearing.

Nick Meset, who is currently the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Nauru in Jakarta, cannot represent the country because he is still an Indonesian citizen. As a result, at the United Nations General Assembly, he belonged to the Indonesian delegation.

At the UN General  Assembly in New York, the issues of Papua and referendum were not on the agenda, Meset said, adding that what was spread by that group was not true or hoax.

Because of that, the community members should not get influenced easily by the issues that Benny Wenda and his group’s members proliferated, said Meset, who had ever served as the Free Papua Movement (OPM) Foreign Minister.

Nick Meset revealed the riots that occurred in several regions in Papua were caused by Benny Wenda’s provocation.

“What is said that the problem of Papua will be discussed at the UN is out-of-date. He and his colleagues had done it years ago,” Meset said.

Therefore, the public should not easily be influenced by Benny Wenda‘s statement because it is a fake promise. “Let us together create a sense of security so that the development can be continued in Papua until the people of Papua can really get prospered,” Nick Messet stated.

ANTARA