Ilaga is the name of a small town and a farming valley in

Central Papua Central Papua, officially the Central Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Tengah) is an Indonesian province located in the central region of Western New Guinea. It was formally established on 11 November 2022 from the former eight western regencie ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, with an elevation of . It is also the capital of a government district (''kecamatan'') of the same name, and of the newly created (2008)

Puncak Regency Puncak Regency is one of the regencies (''kabupaten'') in the Indonesian province of Central Papua; it is not to be confused with Puncak Jaya Regency, which is within the same province, and from whose western districts those districts now forming ...

. Most of the residents of the area belong to the Western Dani tribe. It has a small airport and a tiny community of non-Papuan traders and government officials from other parts of Indonesia. A river of the same name runs through the valley, and is a tributary of the Ilorong. The valley lies about midway between the Enarotali and Baliem valleys.

Air crash

In April 2009 a small plane travelling from Mulia ( Puncak Jaya Regency) to Ilaga - (

Mimika Air Flight 514 Mimika Air Flight 514 was a chartered passenger flight operated by Mimika Air with a Pilatus PC-6 Porter from Ilaga, Papua to Mulia, a town nearby. On the morning of 17 April 2009, while en route to Mulia, the aircraft impacted Mount Gergaji, k ...

) - crashed, killing all 10 aboard. Recovery operations and identification of remains were carried out from Ilaga, which is the administrative centre of Indonesia's

Outside encounters

The Western Dani of Ilaga's first extensive contacts with the non-Papuan world began in 1950, when missionaries began to use planes to extend their contacts into the highland areas of the region. The region was not entirely "isolated" or "cut-off" from the outside world before the European arrival as is sometimes reported. Ilaga traditionally was along the main trade routes from the agricultural highland valleys, whose pigs and farm produce were traded for shells, salt and other goods with coastal tribes. The Ilaga area has been at times a center of support for the

Free Papua Movement "Free Papua Movement" ( id, Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM, tpi, Fri Wes Papua Grup) is an umbrella term for the independence movement established during 1965 in the West Papuan or West New Guinea territory which is currently being administrat ...

(''Organisasi Papua Merdeka'', OPM). In October 2001 OPM fighters briefly took and held the town from Indonesian forces.

References

{{reflist Valleys of Indonesia Populated places in Central Papua Regency seats of Central Papua Landforms of Central Papua Landforms of Western New Guinea