OPM demands plane in exchange for hostages
OPM demands plane in exchange for hostages
JAKARTA (JP): Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebels have demanded that authorities in Irian Jaya provide them with a non-military plane and a civilian pilot in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages they are still holding, Antara reported yesterday.
Meanwhile, spokesman for the Armed Forces (ABRI) Brig. Gen. Suwarno Adiwijoyo told The Jakarta Post by telephone that the military had complied with the abductors' request that four priests be sent to them to act as mediators in the release of the hostages.
But he declined to comment on the results of the move. "What I can say is that we aim to get all the hostages released peacefully," he said.
Suwarno said he had yet to verify that the kidnappers were demanding a civilian plane, as reported by Antara news agency.
Quoting military sources in Wamena, the news agency did not say what the rebels needed the plane for.
The rebels, who kidnapped 24 people, including seven Europeans last Sunday, passed on their demand through a radio contact yesterday.
Suwarno said that during the contact the military had also talked with one of the hostages, Yacobus Wandiba, who informed security officials that most of the hostages' physical conditions were beginning to deteriorate, and that they were badly in need of food and medicine.
According to Yacobus, the remaining 15 hostages were no longer tied up, but were still being guarded tightly by OPM members.
Earlier, government troops succeeded in releasing nine of the 24 hostages, not 11 as was reported in this paper yesterday.
The nine freed from the abductors are village officials, teachers and a local health official. Their names are Yanto Tembuni, Temias Kogoya, Marthafina Elopore, Lewi Nesareak, Naftali Wanimbo, Martin Wiyangge, Philip Wesairak, Alex Nugivi, and Isaak Wesairak.
The 15 others still held captive are researchers, including four Britons, a German and two Dutch nationals. The Britons are Daniel Start, William Oates, Annette van der Kolk, and Anna McIvor, all of whom are graduates of the prestigious University of Cambridge.
The other three foreigners are Frank Momberg of Germany and Mark van der Wal of the Netherlands, and another Dutch citizen named Martha Klein, who is an official of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO.
Indonesian researchers from the Jakarta Biological Sciences Club, Cenderawasih University in Irian Jaya, academy of sciences (LIPI) and a conservation official, as well as village church leaders, are also among those still missing.
Suwarno said the commando units in charge of releasing the hostages had tightened their control of Mapenduma village, which lies some 2,700 meters above the sea level.
"Bad weather has hampered this operation," he said.
The OPM has been seeking independence for Irian Jaya, previously a Dutch colony, since 1963.
According to Suwarno, the armed OPM rebels now number only "between five and six" but they have numerous sympathizers who join them either voluntarily or at gun point.
They have been stepping up activities around the American- based mining giant PT Freeport, to attract world attention to their cause, he said. (ego/pan)