Govt toughens stance against Irian Jaya rebels
Govt toughens stance against Irian Jaya rebels
JAKARTA (JP): The government has toughened its stance against Irian Jaya rebels who are still holding 14 people, including six Europeans, hostage, saying that while it was prepared to talk with them, it would not negotiate.
The rebels yesterday released two hostages who were not previously listed among those being held. They were the wife of Jacobus and their six-month old baby. Jacobus remained in captivity along with 13 others, according to the military.
As talks continued between rebels and the military, the remaining Indonesian and foreign hostages have written letters to their relatives to inform them that they are in good health and to ask for prayers for their safety, TVRI reported.
The military and the Irian Jaya provincial administration stressed on separate occasions yesterday that the hostages must be released unharmed.
"There will be no negotiations with them," Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung told reporters in Jakarta.
"We want to solve this problem in the best possible way. We will talk to them, (but) the hostages must be released unharmed. And then, we shall see," he said. He declined to go further, saying he could not disclose details of the military operation.
The operation is being supervised by Brig. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, the chief of the Army's Special Command Force, from a post established in the Irian Jaya town of Wamena. The rebels are believed to have settled in the Mapunduma village about 160 kilometers away in the mountainous Jayawijaya regency.
By yesterday afternoon, the military had not allowed Frank Momberg, a German who was released on Monday to relay the rebels' message, return to Mapunduma as previously agreed. One report said he was undergoing medical treatment in Wamena.
The military has already met some of the rebels' demands, including their requests for food and medicine, and for three missionaries (not four as was first reported) to be sent to them.
A request for a plane or a helicopter with a civilian pilot in return for the release of all the hostages has been turned down.
Irian Jaya Governor Jacob Pattipi meanwhile told Antara that the government will not succumb to the rebels' ransom demands.
"We will continue talking about their release, but we will reject giving any kind of ransom, just as we have rejected the ransom demand for the release of two senior high school students," Pattipi said, referring to the abduction of two teenagers by separatist rebels last month.
The two students are currently held by the rebels in Papua New Guinea. A ransom for Rp 34 million ($14,800) had been demanded for their release.
Grave mistake
Giving in to the rebels' demands would be a grave mistake because the money would be used to buy more guns and kidnapping for ransom would become fashionable, Pattipi said.
The 14 hostages still held by the rebels were all members of a flora and fauna expedition in the Laurentz nature reserve. The four Britons in the group are Daniel Start, William Oates, Annette van der Kolk and Anna McIvor. There are also two Dutch citizens: Mark van der Wal and Martha Klein, and eight Indonesians, mostly from Jakarta.
Pattipi said the rebels had mistaken the Lorentz expedition for a team from PT Freeport Indonesia, the American copper and gold mining company with a huge operation in Irian Jaya.
He said the rebels' leader, Kelly Kwalik, had a personal grudge against Freeport because he lost out in a land conflict with the mining company in the 1970s.
Meanwhile, reports from Mapunduma suggested that the rebels did not have the support of the villagers, Antara reported.
The village leaders, according to the news agency, have made an oath that the entire village's 2,000 population would kill the rebels if they slay any of the hostages.
Even the rebels appear to be divided, with some wanting to release the hostages and others insisting on continuing the crisis, according to military intelligence.
Two tribal chiefs in Wamena have also condemned the kidnapping of innocent people.
Mapile Hubby of the Hubby Kossy tribe and Apemosi Hubby of the Hubby Asso tribe told Antara that abduction is not recognized in Irian's tribal war practices. "You either win or lose. But you don't abduct anybody," Apemosi said. (emb/imn)