Irian rebels resume contact with military
Irian rebels resume contact with military
JAKARTA (JP): Irian Jaya separatist rebels who are holding 13 people captive, including six Europeans, made radio contact with the military yesterday, their first in four days as the hostage drama entered its 23d day.
Two senior Army officers who had been supervising the military's rescue mission meanwhile left Wamena, the town that hosts the military command post, for Jakarta in another signal that the crisis is not about to end in the near future.
"We made contact this morning at 6 a.m.," Captain Edi Sulistiadi, an information officer of the Trikora Command in Jayapura, told The Jakarta Post by phone last night.
Edi said the radio contact was not made by the rebel leader Kelly Kwalik, but by one of his men, Naftali Wanimbo.
He declined to give details of the communication between the rebels and the military, but said that Naftali had promised to contact the military again this morning.
However, Antara reported that during the communication, the rebels warned the military against using force to secure the release of the hostages. They also expressed apprehension at the repeated sound of helicopters flying near their jungle hideout, suggesting some military maneuvers were on the way.
The Jayawijaya Military Chief Lt. Col. Sumertha Ayub told Antara that the military is still committed to resolving the crisis by peaceful means, hoping that the rebels would be persuaded to release their hostages.
Sumertha explained that the orders from senior military leaders is to continue to use persuasion.
It was not immediately clear whether the rebels were still in their hideout near Mapunduma village in the Jayawijaya regency, where they settled after the abduction on Jan. 8, or whether they had moved out.
The military had earlier said that during the absence of contact for the past four days, the rebels had attempted to move to a new location, taking with them the hostages and local villagers.
Antara also reported that Brig. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, the chief of the Special Forces who had been supervising the military operation in Wamena, had left for Jakarta.
Brig. Gen. Zacky A. Makarim, the director of the Armed Forces' Intelligence Agency, was also seen in the Wamena airport about to board a flight to Jayapura.
"I've got to go back to Jakarta for some business," he told the news agency.
The rebels kidnapped 26 people on Jan. 8 in Mapunduma in the remote Balliem Valley and are still holding 13 of them, including four Britons and two Dutch people.
They have released 12 residents of Mapunduma and German researcher Frank Momberg of the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature. (imn)