Fears grow over health of Dutch hostage in Irian

Fears grow over health of Dutch hostage in Irian

JAKARTA (JP): Fears are growing over the health of Martha Klein, a Dutch woman who is among the 13 people who have been held hostage by Irian Jaya separatist rebels since Jan. 8, with reports that she has caught malaria, the military said yesterday.

Klein, an environmentalist with the UNESCO office in Jakarta, is also four months pregnant.

Lt. Col Maulud Hidayat, a military spokesman in Irian Jaya, told Antara that letters sent by the hostages to the authorities described how their health has been affected by their ordeal. Klein's condition has been deteriorating, he added.

The 13 hostages, the majority of whom were members of a scientific expedition to the Lorentz nature reserve, also include four Britons, a Dutch man, and seven Indonesians. Their letters, dated Feb. 5 and 6, were sent to Jayapura Bishop Herman Munninghoff who has been helping with the mediation efforts between the military and the rebels.

The letters were then forwarded to their respective families.

In their letters, according to the military spokesman, the hostages said they had been overcome by fatigue because they had constantly moved around with the rebels to avoid the military.

They also asked to have food, including dendeng and rendang and medicine sent to them although they did not say their precise location.

The military has not been able to determine the whereabouts of the rebels and the hostages since they left Mapunduma village in the Jayawijaya regency on Jan. 25.

The spokesman said the letters were brought by a messenger who walked for one week from the rebels' hideout to reach Mapunduma.

One encouraging note from the letters is that the hostages and their captors have agreed not to hurt each another, Maulud said.

Meanwhile, there were no new developments yesterday to suggest that the hostage crisis is about to end.

A team from the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) based in Wamena, a town about 160 km from Mapunduma, for the past week has said that it has made a date to meet with the rebels' leader Kelly Kwalik in the next few days at a location that Kelly would determine.

But some officials yesterday were having doubts that the contact to request the meeting had really come from Kelly.

In Jakarta, Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung said any ICRC move to secure the release of the hostages had to be coordinated with the military.

Feisal however said the military welcomed any assistance from other parties to help solve the crisis.

The ICRC's presence in Wamena came at the request of Kelly himself who said that he was only willing to talk with Red Cross officials.

In another major development yesterday , Maulud said Kelly had left the group and that the rebels who were holding the hostages were now led by Daniel Yudas Kogoya.

He said the information came from two of Yudas's men who had surrendered to the military.

He added that the two men had agreed to become mediators between the military and the rebels. (imn)