On July 24 representatives of the six commands of the Tentara Pembebasan Nasional (the National Liberation Army) announced the creation of a unified command structure. The representatives, who held a meeting in Madang in neighbouring Papua New Guinea, said that the struggle for a free West Papua would now be conducted through non-violent means. Representatives attended from Biak, Sorong, Manokwari, Wamena, Paniai, Fak Fak and the northern and southern border regions, according to the Joyo Indonesia News Service. A Radio New Zealand report quoted Jonah Wenda, who convened the meeting, as saying: “Because, in West Papua we have a wide area and no good communications even though we have one cause — for independence, for liberation. But because of communications and the wider territory, what we are trying to do now is to build these different commands to come under one understanding.”

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