IT HAS been an incredible journey for exiled West Papuan leader Benny Wenda. From a childhood spent living in poverty in the mountains where he witnessed his auntie being raped by Indonesian soldiers to a daring escape from prison in 2002, his “long walk to freedom” culminated in his election as the territory’s interim president as part of a government-in-waiting in an historic vote on December 1 2020 — West Papua’s national day. Our conversation takes place over WhatsApp — coronavirus means we cannot meet at his Oxford home where he has lived since being granted political asylum in 2003. Before we proceed with the interview he tells me that the Morning Star “is the media of West Papua,” laughing as he explains that our articles are shared all over social media and in WhatsApp groups.