{"id":998442,"date":"2023-02-16T08:20:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T08:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=84688"},"modified":"2023-02-16T08:20:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T08:20:38","slug":"indonesia-to-negotiate-with-west-papuan-rebels-for-nz-pilots-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/02\/16\/indonesia-to-negotiate-with-west-papuan-rebels-for-nz-pilots-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia to negotiate with West Papuan rebels for NZ pilot\u2019s release"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Tria Dianti in Jakarta<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Authorities in Indonesia\u2019s Melanesian province Papua will negotiate with indigenous pro-independence rebels to secure the release of a New Zealand pilot the insurgents took hostage last week, say police and military officials.<\/p>\n<p>However, a spokesperson for the rebel group West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) said that while they were ready to negotiate, they would do so only if another country was involved as a mediator.<\/p>\n<p>The Jakarta government\u2019s negotiation plan came after the TPNPB released a video on Tuesday in which the group said it would kill pilot Philip Mehrtens if government security forces came for them.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2023\/02\/16\/papuan-cat-and-mouse-over-nz-pilot-taken-captive-by-freedom-rebels\/\"><strong>READ MORE: <\/strong>Papuan cat-and-mouse over NZ pilot taken captive by \u2018freedom\u2019 rebels<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2023\/02\/16\/papuan-cat-and-mouse-over-nz-pilot-taken-captive-by-freedom-rebels\/\">Watch the ABC news report of the TPNPB video<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/2023\/02\/13\/why-a-nz-pilot-is-a-pawn-in-the-west-papua-conflict-that-the-world-ignores\/\">Why a NZ pilot is a pawn in the West Papua conflict that the world ignores<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ojs.aut.ac.nz\/pacific-journalism-review\/article\/view\/665\">Blood on the Cross: East Timor and West Papua<\/a> \u2013 Mark Davis in <em>Pacific Journalism Review<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?s=NZ+pilot\">Other West Papuan conflict reports<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Papuan police have been coordinating with the local government as well as indigenous and religious leaders to communicate with the local rebel group led by Egianus Kogoya, provincial police spokesman Benny Adi Prabowo said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRegional authorities . . . and customary and religious leaders have access,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are allowing them to take the lead in opening a space for communication with the Egianus Kogoya group,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Some people tasked with the negotiations have arrived in Nduga regency\u2019s Paro district, where rebels set fire to a plane belonging to Susi Air and took Mehrtens hostage on February 7.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mehrtens ID confirmed<br \/>\n<\/strong>Early yesterday, Papua military chief Major-General Muhammad Saleh Mustafa confirmed that the person in the photo and video released by the rebel group was Mehrtens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBased on the visible features, it is true that the photos and videos circulating on social media are of the Susi Air pilot, namely Captain Philip Mark Mehrtens,\u201d Saleh said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>In the video, Mehrtens repeated the pro-independece group\u2019s demand for the Indonesian military to withdraw from Papua.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Papuan military has taken me captive in their fight for Papuan independence. They ask for the Indonesian military to go home, if not I will remain captive and my life is threatened,\u201d Mehrtens said.<\/p>\n<p>Donal Fariz, a lawyer for Susi Air, also said the person in the video was Mehrtens.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Return to the motherland\u2019s fold\u2019<br \/>\n<\/strong>Early indications from comments on the government\u2019s and the rebels\u2019 side do not bode well.<\/p>\n<p>TPNPB spokesman Sebby Sambom said that if Jakarta insisted on negotiating without involving the international community, there would be no talks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t want to deal with the Indonesian government only,\u201d Sambom said.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Indonesian military spokesman Colonel Herman Taryaman called the rebel group\u2019s demand for Indonesia to withdraw from Papua impossible to fulfill and \u201cabsurd\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn fact, we hope that their group will come to their senses and return to the motherland\u2019s fold,\u201d Taryaman said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that New Zealand Embassy staff had met with Lieutenant General I. Nyoman Cantiasa, the commander of the joint military and police operation in Papua.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey basically stated that the most important thing is that Philip is safe. Secondly, they asked us to have a medical team and medical equipment on stand-by in the event Philip is evacuated,\u201d Nyoman said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Earlier hostage-taking<\/strong><br \/>\nIn 2021, another Susi Air pilot from New Zealand and his three passengers were held by pro-independence rebels in Papua\u2019s Puncak regency but were released after two hours.<\/p>\n<p>Security forces were trying to locate Mehrtens by conducting air and land surveillance, Colonel Herman Taryaman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have not been able to pinpoint Captain Philip\u2019s location yet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Violence and tensions in Papua, a region that makes up the western half of New Guinea island, have intensified in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>The region has a history of human rights violations by Indonesian security forces and police. Papuan pro-independence rebels also have been accused of attacking civilians.<\/p>\n<p>In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded Papua, a former Dutch colony like Indonesia, and annexed it. In 1969, the United Nations sponsored a referendum where only 1025 people voted.<\/p>\n<p>Despite accusations that the vote was a farce, the UN recognised the outcome, effectively endorsing Indonesia\u2019s control over Papua.<\/p>\n<p><em>Tria Dianti reports for BenarNews. Arie Firdaus in Jakarta also contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tria Dianti in Jakarta Authorities in Indonesia\u2019s Melanesian province Papua will negotiate with indigenous pro-independence rebels to secure the release of a New Zealand pilot the insurgents took hostage last week, say police and military officials. However, a spokesperson for the rebel group West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) said that while they were<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":400,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44765,5,365,53887,37684,6,7,207,57595,10,1193,255,57162,12,431,57428,57598,13,14,57167,1,162,19,20,299],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/400"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":998488,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998442\/revisions\/998488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}