Not even the most optimistic of the 20 men of UNTEA, the Temporary Executive Authority at W.N. Guinea, expected that they could accomplish much during their seven caretaker months.

The first Europeans to sight New Guinea were two 16th century Portuguese sea captains who were so unimpressed that they did not even bother to claim it for their King. Second largest island in the world (after Greenland), it was a tangle of tropical jungle inhabited by mosquitoes, crocodiles, and…

At the United Nations Security Council conference hall in Manhattan, The Netherlands and Indonesia last week formally ended 13 years a bitter wrangling and spasmodic war.

Over a horseshoe-shaped table at the United Nations Security Council conference hall in Manhattan, The Netherlands and Indonesia last week formally ended 13 years of bitter wrangling and spasmodic war for possession of the steaming archipelago called New Guinea.

Broadest smile was on the face of Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Subandrio,…

After 4½ months negotiators shook hands. The Dutch will turn West Irian over to U.N. stewardship until next May 1, at which time administrative control of the territory will pass to Indonesia.

Over the roads near Middleburg, Va., a convoy of limousines daily moved into a lavish colonial estate called Huntlands, only three miles from President Kennedy’s winter weekend spot, Glen Ora.* Shielded from prying eyes by a high, cream-colored brick wall, diplomats from The Netherlands and Indonesia met with U.S. Mediato…

Indonesian guerrillas crept through the dense jungles of Dutch New Guinea last week, forcing the Dutch to spread out their meager defenses (5,800 combat troops).

Indonesian guerrillas crept through the dense jungles of Dutch New Guinea last week, and it became clear that Indonesia’s President Sukarno was at last going to do more than talk about grabbing the disputed territory that he calls West Irian. He also adroitly deployed psychological warfare: Indonesia broadcast reports of …

Just as Indonesia and The Netherlands got to the conference table for negotiation of their dispute over Dutch New Guinea, warfare flared again along the coast of the island.

ust as Indonesia and The Netherlands got to the conference table for some quiet negotiation of their dispute over Dutch New Guinea, warfare flared again along the coast of the humid Pacific island.

Dutch marines discovered a band of 30 In donesians on Waigeo Island off New Guin ea’s western…

U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy was in Indonesia persuading them to settle peacefully its bitter dispute with The Netherlands about sovereignty over West New Guinea.

Planning their itineraries for world tours, U.S. officials are fond of omitting Indonesia, the touchy, swarming island nation whose government professes neutralism while practicing anti-Americanism.

To this rule, U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy was no exception— and last week he and his wife Ethel flew into Indonesia only at the…

Three Indonesian torpedo boats raced at flank speed (40 knots) toward the Dutch New Guinea coast. The Dutch ships sank one of the Indonesian craft and forcing the others to flee.

One moonlit night last week, three blips flashed on the radar screen of a Dutch Neptune patrol bomber some 60 miles southwest of New Guinea. They turned out to be three Indonesian torpedo boats racing at flank speed (40 knots) toward the Dutch New Guinea coast. Just over two hours…

The Netherlands and Indonesia are not even on formal speaking terms, the struggle for New Guinea has fallen to diplomatic “third parties,” largely the U.S.

As usual, the headlines out of Berlin were dramatic—an American commandant held up at the East-West frontier; a Soviet jeep chased by U.S. troops in retaliation. General Lucius Clay, the President’s special representative in Berlin, flew to Washington to demand that the local commander get more freedom to slug…

Foreign minister Luns proposed handing over New Guinea to the U.N., which could then allow the native Papuans to determine their own fate. Sukarno wants to liberate West Irian.

As India’s armed forces rolled into Goa last week, Indonesia’s jaunty President Sukarno tried to hitch a ride. Standing beneath a canopy in the cultural center of Djokjakarta, Sukarno told a wildly cheering crowd of 100,000 to prepare “for the coming general mobilization of all the Indonesian people soon to…

The Kennedy Admin. refused to send a U.S. representative to ceremonies of the installation of The Netherlands New Guinea’s first elected council, to show itself neutral in the controversy.

President Sukarno of Indonesia is probably the most footloose head of state since Richard the Lionhearted. Last week, as is his yearly wont, he took leave from his Djakarta palace and his lesser palace at Bogor, with its surrounding park stocked with small white deer, to fly off on a…

Indonesia’s Defense Minister was promised 450 million in military aid from Moscow. The Dutch are reluctant to abandon W.N. Guinea until the Papuans are ready for self-government.

Three weeks ago, Indonesia’s Defense Minister Abdul Haris Nasution set off for Moscow on what he called his “West Irian mission.” Last week he returned to Djakarta in triumph. His trophy was a promise of $450 million in military aid and equipment, enough to double the fighting potential of Indonesia’s…

Enraged by Indonesia’s noisy propaganda threats, The Netherlands sent off to Asian waters the aircraft carrier Karel Doorman.

All that is left of the once rich East Indies empire of the Dutch is the far-from-wealthy colony of West New Guinea. Indonesia, which inherited all the rest of the empire, covets New Guinea too. Enraged by Indonesia’s noisy propaganda threats, The Netherlands last June sent off to Asian waters…

A report of a nine-man Dutch parliamentary commission that visited New Guinea last year concluded that the Dutch administration was ineffective and without success.

As many a World War II G.I. can testify, Western New Guinea is an unappetizing piece of real estate—a land of tropical swamps, unexplored mountains and predominantly Stone Age inhabitants. Yet for more than seven years, possession of this forbidding backwater has been the subject of a bitter quarrel…

Indonesia’s economic crisis grew daily more acute. Indonesian officials want the Dutch to surrender West Irian (Netherlands New Guinea) or they have their interests in Indonesia liquidated.

Indonesia’s economic crisis grew daily more acute. In Central Java, hungry peasants were reported eating field mice. President Sukarno lingered on, neither ruling nor resting, though the government announced that he was leaving any minute for a vacation tour which would range from Tokyo to Cairo. But government officials were…

The U.N. committee urged the Dutch and Indonesia to solve the dispute of W. New Guinea. The U.S. abstained from voting, but the U.S. privately conceded to the Dutch to be right.

Lying north of Australia, New Guinea, an island the size of Scandinavia, is populated by an unknown number of fuzzy-haired tribesmen who have no idea of government. The eastern half of New Guinea is ruled by Australia; who should rule the western half was in grave dispute last week. West…