ICRC joins hostages search
ICRC joins hostages search
JAKARTA (JP): A team has ventured into the Irian Jaya jungle
to locate the 13 people, including six Europeans, still held
hostage by Free Papua Movement (OPM) separatist rebels.
Four members of the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), a missionary, paramedics, and several tribal leaders set
off on Tuesday, spokesman for the Trikora Military Command, Lt.
Col. Maulud Hidayat, said yesterday.
The attempt was the first to look for the rebels and their
hostages since the ICRC joined the effort to release the hostages
on Feb. 9 on the request of the rebels and the Indonesian
authorities.
"So far there's no information whether the team has made
contact with the rebels," Maulud was quoted by the Antara news
agency as saying.
The team was set up by the military in an effort to free the
hostages seized in Mapunduma village in the Jayawijaya regency on
Jan. 8. The military has not been able to determine the
whereabouts of the rebels and the hostages since they left
Mapunduma on Jan. 25.
The 13 hostages, mostly members of a scientific expedition to
the Lorentz nature reserve, consist of four Britons, two Dutch,
and seven Indonesians. The rebels' main demand is for
recognition of a West Papua state in return for the release of
their captives. The Indonesian government has turned it down.
The rebels have already released 13 hostages, including a
German scientist, in exchange for food and medicine.
Maulud said that the team is also carrying two messages from
the chief of the Trikora Military Command, Maj. Gen. A. Dunidja,
who is leading the operation to rescue the hostages.
Dunidja assured rebel leader Daniel Yudas Kogoya that military
personnel put on alert around Mapunduma are seeking a peaceful
solution to the crisis and will avoid bloodshed.
Secondly, he stressed that the rebels would not be prosecuted
if they voluntarily surrender to the military authorities.
Maulud said that Dunidja has requested the ICRC representative
Henry Fournier to deliver the messages directly to the rebels if
makes direct contact with them.
Fournier said that the guarantee of the rebels' safety could
be of great help in the effort to release the hostages.
Maulud expressed his confidence that the efforts to release
the hostages will continue to run smoothly. (31)