No one expected blood to flow so freely in the lush verdant land of Irian Jaya, Indonesia’s easternmost province. Yet it was in Wamena, a small town on the Jayawijaya plateau, some 290 kilometers from the provincial capital of Jayapura, that 40 people were killed and scores left injured at almost the same time. They died or were wounded from gunshots, arrows or spear wounds earlier this month.

The riots in Wamena were the climax of a fu