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)