{"id":1010930,"date":"2023-03-01T10:13:39","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T10:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=85560"},"modified":"2023-03-01T10:13:39","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T10:13:39","slug":"papuan-churches-plea-to-rebel-leader-egianus-kogoya-to-free-nz-pilot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/03\/01\/papuan-churches-plea-to-rebel-leader-egianus-kogoya-to-free-nz-pilot\/","title":{"rendered":"Papuan churches plea to rebel leader Egianus Kogoya to free NZ pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jubi News in Jayapura<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n The Papuan Church Council has called on the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) unit led by Egianus Kogoya to immediately release the New Zealand hostage pilot Philip Mehrtens.<\/p>\n The council\u2019s request was delivered during a press conference attended by Reverend Benny Giai as moderator and member Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman at the secretariat.<\/p>\n Reverend Yoman said he had written an open letter to Kogoya explaining that hostage-taking events like this were not the first time in Papua. There needed to be a negotiated settlement and not by force.<\/p>\n The plea comes as news media report that Indonesian security forces have surrounded the rebels holding 37-year-old Mehrtens captive, but say they will exercise restraint while negotiations for his release continue.<\/p>\n Mehrtens, a Susi Air pilot, was taken hostage by the TNPB on February 7 after landing in the remote mountainous region of Nduga.<\/p>\n \u201cThe council and the international community understand the issue that the TPNPB brings — namely the Papuan struggle [for independence], Reverend Yoman said.<\/p>\n “We know TPNPB are not terrorists. Therefore, in the open letter I asked Egianus to free the New Zealand pilot.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘Great commander’<\/strong> This hostage-taking, he said, was psychologically disturbing for the family of the pilot. He asked that the pilot be released.<\/p>\n Reverend Yoman said he was sure that if the pilot was released, Kogoya would also get sympathy from the global community and the people of Indonesia.<\/p>\n His open letter had also been sent to President Joko Widodo.<\/p>\n “There must be a neutral mediator or negotiator trusted by both the TPNPB, the community, and the government to release the pilot. Otherwise, many victims will fall,\u201d said Reverend Yoman.<\/p>\n Reverend Benny Giai said there were a number of root problems that had not been resolved in Papua that triggered the hostage-taking events.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the root problems in Papua are not resolved, things like this will keep occurring in the future,” he said.<\/p>\n ‘Conditions fuel revenge’<\/strong> The council invited everybody to view that the hostage-taking occurred several days after the humanitarian pause agreement was withdrawn by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) when it should have continued.<\/p>\n Reverend Giai said he regretted that no negotiation team had been formed by the government to immediately release the pilot.<\/p>\n He was part of a negotiating team resolving a similar crisis in Ilaga in 2010.<\/p>\n At that time, Reverend Giai said, security guarantees were given directly by then Papua police chief I Made Pastika, and “everything went smoothly”.<\/p>\n \u201cIn our letter we emphasise that humanity must be respected.<\/p>\n “If the release is not carried out, it is certain that civilians will become victims. Therefore, we ask that the hostage must be released, directly or through a negotiating team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
\nReverend Yoman also explained that Kogoya was a “great commander”, and the liberation fight had been going on since the 1960s, and it must be seen as the struggle of the entire Papuan people.<\/p>\n
\n“There are people in the forest carrying weapons while remembering their families who have been killed, these conditions fuel revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n