Government won't negotiate with Irian rebels
Government won't negotiate with Irian rebels
JAKARTA (JP): The government reiterated yesterday that it will not negotiate with the Irian Jaya rebels who have been holding 12 people hostage, including six Europeans, since Jan. 8.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas was quoted by Antara as saying that the hostages must be released by the Free Papua Movement (OPM) without any preconditions.
Alatas declined to comment directly on the offer of negotiations by Moses Werror, the self-proclaimed OPM leader, who now lives in Papua New Guinea.
Moses, in a telephone interview with the Kompas daily, said he is willing to enter into negotiations with Alatas and other government leaders as well as representatives of foreign governments and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC).
The rebels are demanding recognition of an independent state in Irian Jaya, he said in the interview published yesterday.
Moses warned that if the government refuses to negotiate, or if negotiations eventually break down, the rebels are prepared to keep the hostages until the UN General Assembly in September.
Alatas, who was questioned before a cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office, said he had not read the Kompas report.
"We do not recognize their existence, and therefore it would be impossible for the government to enter negotiations with them," he said, in reference to the OPM.
Alatas said the kidnapping has already been widely condemned by the world and Indonesia is using persuasive methods rather than force to secure the hostages' release. "No one can fault us for the way we are handling this hostage situation," he said.
Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung, who also attended the cabinet meeting, said that the military is continuing to monitor the hostage situation.
Asked whether the military is prepared to let the crisis continue for a long time, Feisal said "Maybe they (the rebels) are also waiting for the use of force."
Most of the 12 hostages were members of an expedition studying flora and fauna in the Laurentz nature reserve in the Jayawijaya regency. They include four Britons, two Dutch citizens and six Indonesians.
Red Cross officials who met them last week said that they were thin but otherwise healthy.
They and their abductors are currently believed to be in the jungle near Wamena, the main town in the Jayawijaya regency.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that two officials of the Jakarta office of the ICRC headed for Papua New Guinea yesterday to meet Moses Weror.
"The ICRC officials left Jakarta last night for Port Moresby through Singapore and are expected to arrive in Papua New Guinea this afternoon," an ICRC source said. (emb)