Military launches Irian operation

Military launches Irian operation

JAKARTA (JP): The military has launched an operation against
the separatist rebels in Irian Jaya holding 11 European and
Indonesian scientists hostage in the Jayawijaya regency, a senior
Armed Forces (ABRI) officer said yesterday.

"A team is now in pursuit of the GPK," Lt. Gen. Soeyono, ABRI
chief of general affairs, told Antara.

GPK is the Indonesian acronym for Gerakan Pengacau Keamanan
(Security Disturbance Movement), the military term used to refer
to separatist rebel groups.

The military operation was launched following the failure of
the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) to secure
the release of the hostages after four months of trying, Soeyono
said.

The four Britons, two Dutch citizens and five Indonesians were
members of a scientific expedition team who were abducted by the
Irianese rebels on Jan. 8 in the Jayawijaya regency. The hostages
have since been held in the group's jungle hideouts while talks
on their safe release were held with the ICRC.

The military had given full freedom to the ICRC team to carry
out its "humanitarian" mission of getting the hostages released
over the past four months, Soeyono said.

Troopers moved into Geselama village where the rebels were
believed to have held negotiations with the ICRC team these past
few weeks. But troopers only found fresh footprints, he said.

The military has firmly rejected negotiating with the
kidnappers, whose prime demand is that Jakarta recognize a
separate Irian Jaya state.

Soeyono said he was neither "content" with nor "convinced" by
the ICRC's work, and felt that the organization had departed from
what had originally been agreed to with the military. (emb)