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)