JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities arrested 44 people suspected of starting some of the forest and peatland fires that are spreading health-damaging haze in the region, officials said Wednesday.
Forest and peat fires are an annual problem in Indonesia that strain relations with neighboring countries. In recent years, smoke from the fires has blanketed parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand.
The fires are often started illegally by plantation owners or traditional farmers to clear land for planting, said Suharyanto, who heads the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, or BNPB, in a statement on Wednesday.
“The forest fires are not caused only by drought, but also by humans,” said Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians uses only a single name. “Hopefully these arrests will serve as a deterrent to the public to stop setting fires to clear land.”
Police on Tuesday presented the suspects, including a woman, at the news conference in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province. They were handcuffed and wearing orange prison uniforms.
Those arrested could be prosecuted under an environmental protection law that provides for a maximum 10-year prison sentence for setting fires to clear land, Suharyanto said.
He urged people to be pro-active in the government campaign to stop human-caused blazes and report anyone setting fires to clear land.
A number of areas in Riau province were still covered by thick haze, where Rokan Hilir and Rokan Hulu districts were the worst hit areas by fires that burned about 500 hectares (1,235 acres), resulting in heavy haze that reduced visibility to less than one kilometer (less than half a mile).
The government has stepped up its fire responses by spreading tons of salt on clouds to induce artificial rain in Riau since Tuesday, which will continue until July 25, Suharyanto said.
Tuesday’s arrests were not the first. In 2019 Indonesian police arrested 230 people linked to forest fires.
Forest fires on Sumatra and Borneo islands often break out during dry spells, smothering parts of nearby Singapore and Malaysia in haze.
In 2023, Indonesia which often sends apologies to its neighbors over the haze, denied that its fires were blanketing Malaysia with pollution.
Firemen attempt to extinguish a fire that razes through a peatland field in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, Indonesia, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Hatta)
Motorists ride past a fire that razes through a peatland field in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, Indonesia, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Hatta)
A police officer sprays water in an attempt to extinguish a fire that razes through a peatland field in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, Indonesia, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Hatta)
NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Troops from several European countries, including France, Germany, Norway and Sweden, are arriving in Greenland to help boost the Arctic island's security after talks between representatives of Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. on Wednesday highlighted “fundamental disagreement” between the Trump administration and European allies.
“The first French military elements are already en route” and “others will follow,” French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday, as French authorities said about 15 French soldiers from the mountain infantry unit were already in Nuuk for a military exercise.
Germany will deploy a reconnaissance team of 13 personnel to Greenland on Thursday, its Defense Ministry said.
Denmark announced it would increase its military presence in Greenland, with NATO allies joining them, just as the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers met with White House representatives on Wednesday in Washington to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump's intentions to take over the island in order to tap its mineral resources and protect the security of the Arctic region amid rising Russian and Chinese interest.
On Thursday, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the intention was “to establish a more permanent military presence with a larger Danish contribution,” according to Danish broadcaster DR. He said soldiers from several NATO countries will be in Greenland on a rotation system.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, flanked by his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt, said Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remains with Trump after they held highly anticipated talks at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rasmussen added that it remains “clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland.”
“We really need it,” Trump told media in the Oval Office after the meeting. “If we don't go in, Russia is going to go in and China is going to go in. And there's not a thing Denmark can do about it, but we can do everything about it."
Trump said he had not yet been briefed about the contents of the White House meeting when he made his remarks.
In Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, local residents told The Associated Press they were glad the first meeting between Greenlandic, Danish and American officials had taken place but suggested it left more questions than answers.
Several people said they viewed Denmark’s decision to send more troops, and promises of support from other NATO allies, as protection against possible U.S. military action. But European military officials have not suggested the goal is to deter a U.S. move against the island.
Maya Martinsen, 21, agreed and said it was “comforting to know that the Nordic countries are sending reinforcements” because Greenland is a part of Denmark and NATO.
The dispute, she said, is not about “national security” but rather about “the oils and minerals that we have that are untouched.”
On Wednesday, Poulsen had announced a stepped-up military presence in the Arctic “in close cooperation with our allies,” calling it a necessity in a security environment in which “no one can predict what will happen tomorrow.”
“This means that from today and in the coming time there will be an increased military presence in and around Greenland of aircraft, ships and soldiers, including from other NATO allies,” Poulsen said.
Asked whether the European troop movements were coordinated with NATO or what role the U.S.-led military alliance might play in the exercises, NATO referred all questions to the Danish authorities.
However, NATO is looking at how members can collectively bolster the alliance’s presence in the Arctic, according to a NATO official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Rasmussen, the Danish foreign minister, announced the creation of a working group with the Americans to discuss ways to work through differences.
“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he said.
Commenting on the outcome of the Washington meeting on Thursday, Poulsen said the working group was “better than no working group” and “a step in the right direction.” He added nevertheless that the dialogue with the U.S. did not mean “the danger has passed.”
Line McGee, a 38-year old from Copenhagen, told AP that she was glad to see some diplomatic progress. “I don’t think the threat has gone away,” she said. "But I feel slightly better than I did yesterday.”
Speaking to FOX News Channel’s Special Report on Wednesday after the White House talks, Rasmussen rejected both a military takeover and the potential purchase of the island by the U.S. Asked whether he thinks the U.S. will invade, he replied: “No, at least I do not hope so, because, I mean, that would be the end of NATO.”
Rasmussen said Greenlanders were unlikely to vote for U.S. rule even if financial incentives were offered “because I think there’s no way that U.S. will pay for a Scandinavian welfare system in Greenland, honestly speaking.”
“You haven’t introduced a Scandinavian welfare system in your own country,” he added.
Trump, in his Oval Office meeting with reporters, said: “We’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out."
Niemann reported from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Ciobanu from Warsaw, Poland.
Fishermen load fishing lines into a boat in the harbor of Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, left, and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, arrive on Capitol Hill to meet with members of the Senate Arctic Caucus, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
