Kostrad sends battalion for hostage rescue

Kostrad sends battalion for hostage rescue

JAKARTA (JP): The Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) has sent a battalion to Irian Jaya to help with the military's campaign to release 13 people, including six Europeans, held captive by separatist rebels in the eastern province.

Kostrad Chief Maj. Gen. Tarub told reporters yesterday that the 432d air-borne battalion is already in the area and is at the disposal of the Trikora Military Command chief who is heading the operation to release the hostages.

Tarub said his men were all prepared to conduct the operation. "But the final decision must come from Trikora Command Chief Maj. Gen. A. Dunidja," he said after meeting with President Soeharto at the latter's Jl. Cendana residence.

Kostrad is the Army's elite combat force with between 25,000 and 26,000 soldiers.

Tarub yesterday reported to the President about the preparations for the command's 35th anniversary. Soeharto headed the command when it crushed a coup attempt against President Sukarno in 1965.

This is the first public disclosure that Kostrad troopers have been dispatched to Irian Jaya. Earlier reports only suggested the presence of troopers from the Army's special force.

Maj. Gen. Dunidja has insisted on using a persuasive approach with the rebels to obtain the safe release of all the hostages, although many people have said that the use of force should be considered to bring to an end to the crisis that began on Jan. 8.

Tarub, who once headed the Trikora Command, said that the separatist rebels possess automatic fire arms, most of which are standard Indonesian military weapons like the M16s which they seized during raids against military outposts.

He ruled out the possibility of the rebels receiving weapons from foreign countries.

Antara reported yesterday that a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been in Irian Jaya for the past two weeks, flew out of Wamena for a meeting with the rebels. It was not immediately clear whether the meeting took place but the team returned a few hours later.

Headed by its Jakarta chief representative Henry Fournier, the Red Cross team last week made contact with the rebels and set a date for a meeting sometimes this week.

The Red Cross participation in the efforts to release the hostages came at the rebels' request and with the knowledge and support of the military. In addition to the Red Cross officials, local church officials have taken part in the mediation efforts.

Antara said the search for the rebels, with their hostages, was concentrated in the forest around the Mapunduma village in the Jayawijaya regency.

Military officers said the rebels have settled in a location that was difficult to reach.

The 13 hostages include four Britons, two Dutch citizens, and seven Indonesians. They were members of a fauna and flora expedition to the Lorentz natural reserve near Jayawijaya.

There has been news about their condition since last week, when the military received letters from the hostages suggesting they were suffering from fatigue and that the health of Martha Klein, a Dutch hostage who is four-months pregnant, was deteriorating from a possible case of malaria. (emb)