JAKARTA, Indonesia — Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive Papua province released photos and videos Tuesday of a person they said is the pilot from Recent Zealand whom they took hostage last week.
Phillip Mark Mehrtens of Christchurch, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air, was abducted by independence fighters from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, who stormed his single-engine plane shortly after it landed on a small runway in Paro in distant Nduga district.
The plane, carrying five passengers, was scheduled to select up 15 construction staff who had been constructing a health facility in Paro after a bunch of separatist rebels led by Egianus Kogoya threatened to kill them, said Nduga district chief Namia Gwijangge.
“Our plan to evacuate the employees angered the rebels, who responded by setting fire to the plane and seizing the pilot,” said Gwijangge, who was one in all the passengers. “We deeply regret this incident.”
Flying is the one practical way of accessing many parts of the mountainous area.
The rebels released all five passengers because they’re indigenous Papuans, rebel spokesperson Sebby Sambom said earlier.
Sambom sent videos and photos Tuesday to The Associated Press that showed a bunch of gunmen, led by Kogoya, setting fire to the plane on the runway. Sitting within the plane’s cockpit, Kogoya said he took the pilot hostage as a part of their struggle “to free Papua” from Indonesia.
One other video showed a person identified as Mehrtens standing in a forest surrounded by a bunch of individuals armed with rifles, spears and bows and arrows. In a 3rd video, the person was ordered by the rebels to say, “Indonesia must recognize Papua is independent.”
“I took him hostage for Papua independence, not for food or drinks,” Kogoya said within the video with the person standing next to him. “He shall be protected with me so long as Indonesia doesn’t use its arms, either from the air or on the bottom.”
Coordinating Minister for Political, Security and Legal Affairs Mohammad Mahfud said the federal government was making every effort to steer the rebels to release Mehrtens “since the priority is the protection of the hostage.”
“Taking civilians hostage for any reason is unacceptable,” Mahfud said in a video statement late Tuesday. He said persuasion is the perfect method to make sure hostage safety, but “the federal government doesn’t rule out other efforts.”
He emphasized the federal government’s view that Papua is an element of Indonesia.
“Papua will ceaselessly remain a legitimate a part of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia,” Mahfud said.
Recent Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Wednesday in an announcement: “We’re aware of the photos and video circulating but won’t be commenting further at this stage.”
Papua police chief Mathius Fakhiri told reporters in Jayapura, the provincial capital, that they’re searching for to acquire the pilot’s freedom by involving several community leaders, including tribal and church figures, to construct communication and negotiate with the rebels.
Conflicts between Indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces are common within the impoverished Papua region, a former Dutch colony within the western a part of Recent Guinea that’s ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia. Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered within the mineral-rich region.
The 15 construction staff, who were rescued Feb. 8 by security forces, got here from other Indonesian islands to construct the health facility in Paro. They’d taken refuge in a priest’s house within the village for several days after rebels threatened to kill them.
Separatists consider civilian staff to be outsiders who sometimes spy for the Indonesian government.
Conflict within the region has risen up to now yr, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed.
