Clergymen set to begin talks with Irian kidnappers today
Clergymen set to begin talks with Irian kidnappers today
JAKARTA (JP): Three clergymen will meet with kidnappers to
mediate the release of the remaining 14 people who have entered
their third week of being held hostage by members of the Free
Papua Movement (OPM) in Irian Jaya.
Plans to send the clergymen were made after news that the
Indonesian military was extending their deadline for the
hostages' release from Sunday to Monday (today), Antara news
agency reported from Wamena, the regency capital of the province.
The three Protestant clergymen named to take part in the
negotiations are Andrian van der Bejl, Johanes Gobai and Paul
Boudhard.
The OPM abducted 24 people, including seven Europeans, from
the village of Mapunduma in the Tiom district on Jan. 8.
Last week nine hostages were freed and another, German Frank
Momberg, was temporarily released. Momberg, who is supposed to
return to the kidnappers, is reportedly still in Wamena.
The military has been in contact with the kidnappers by radio
and has established a camp in Wamena, the closest town to
Mapunduma where the OPM kidnappers are thought to be hiding out.
The kidnappers' initial demand for an airplane and a civilian
pilot was promptly turned down by the military. However, requests
for food and medical supplies have been met.
A special military team to deal with the crisis has been
formed under the command of Brig. Gen. Prabowo Subianto,
commander of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus).
The abduction of the Europeans has drawn international
attention to the crisis, with foreign observers and negotiators
from Scotland Yard now in Irian Jaya to lend their assistance.
The six remaining Europeans still being held are Brits Daniel
Start, William Oates, Anna McIvor and Annette van der Kolk, along
with Dutch citizens Mark van der Wal and Martha Klien, who is
reportedly six-months pregnant.
Military officials in Irian Jaya could not be reached
yesterday evening and there has been no official confirmation
from them on today's planned negotiations with the clergymen.
Meanwhile, reports from Irian Jaya's provincial capital of
Jayapura said that the two high school students who were abducted
by another group of OPM separatists on Nov. 22, 1995, will soon
be freed.
An Indonesian diplomat in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea (PNG), was
quoted by Antara as saying that the two students would be handed
to PNG officials yesterday.
Supeno Said, assistant consul in the PNG town, added that
Indonesian officials would not be allowed to attend.
He could not confirm when the two students would be returned
to Indonesia.
Cousins Marwiyah Abubakar and Muhammad Basyir Kadir, both
students in Arso, a village near the border area, are believed to
have been taken across the border by their captors.
A ransom of Rp 34 million (US$14,800) for their release was
rejected earlier by the Indonesian government.
The fate of another hostage, Riyanto, an employee of state-
owned company Bina Marga, who was abducted at Ikcan Baru village
in the Waropko regency on Nov. 8, is still unknown.
Riyanto's colleague was found dead not long after the
incident. The two were conducting a survey for the construction
wof a trans-Irian road.(mds)