PNG Police arrest leader of Irian separatists
JAKARTA (JP): Papua New Guinea (PNG) Police have arrested an Irian Jaya separatist leader and 12 rebel members, officials said on Thursday.
"We have been informed that Free Papua Movement (OPM) commander Mathias Wenda and 12 of his men were arrested on Tuesday (Jan. 23) in the Vanimo district of Papua New Guinea," Irian Jaya Police Operation and Control chief Sr. Comr. Kusnadi told The Jakarta Post from Jayapura.
An Indonesia-PNG border official who is also the spokesman for the Irian Jaya administration, F.X. Suryanto Sriwardoyo, told Antara on Thursday that Mathias and his men were arrested in Krisa village in Vanimo district, Sendaun province around 3 a.m. local time.
Sendaun Police chief Insp. Iugine Mangopa said Mathias and his men were arrested for establishing rebel forces in PNG to topple the Indonesian government. Mathias' intelligence assistant Yamis Gogoya was among those arrested.
Mathias is reportedly being detained at the state penitentiary in the province of Wewak in PNG.
Indonesian authorities allege that Mathias was involved in the killing of three loggers in the Skow area in Jayapura regency last December.
Suryanto said another OPM leader, Simon Alam, and 14 of his men evaded capture by the PNG Police.
Simon is allegedly involved in an arson attack of a lighthouse at the Indonesia-PNG border.
"Mathias Wenda has been living in the jungle for quite sometime and he is the commander of the separatist movement in the northern part of Irian Jaya, while rebel leader Willem Onde of the Papua Liberation National Army controls the separatist movement in the southern part of the province," Kusnadi said.
Regarding the abduction of 16 timber workers, including three South Koreans, by rebels led by Willem Onde in the Asiki district of Irian Jaya on Jan. 16, Kusnadi said two negotiators, Marius and Fitalis, were expected to meet with Willem in the rebel camp at Kilometer 59 in Asiki this afternoon.
The abductors are demanding U.S.$1 million in compensation for environmental damage, a total halt to logging and the withdrawal of the police Mobile Brigade from Asiki.
Provincial authorities, however, have formed four units, including a joint police and military force to free the hostages "only if it is necessary", the officer said.
Thursday also saw the installment of Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika as the new Irian Jaya Police chief, replacing the late Insp. Gen. FX. Soemardi who was killed, along with other provincial authorities, in a plane crash in the Jayawijaya mountain on Jan. 6.
Made Mangku Pastika was formerly chief of the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Police.
"We believe the situation in Irian Jaya is improving but there are a small number of Irianese who are rebelling against the government of Indonesia by attacking security posts or abducting people," National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Pandji Atmasudirdja said on behalf of National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro during the induction ceremony in Jayapura.
Pandji said, as a precaution, 12 members of the bomb squad from Jakarta had been sent to Merauke.
He said persuasive measures would be used to deal with the abductors, but he declined to reveal how long police officers would remain patient.
Bimantoro had earlier said that the police would coordinate with the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) to rescue the 16 hostages.
On Thursday Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said on the sidelines of a closed-door meeting with officers of the Jakarta Military Command that Kopassus troops were ready to assist the police at anytime. (edt/35/02)