Red Cross seeks to make contact with Irian rebels

Red Cross seeks to make contact with Irian rebels

JAKARTA (JP): A Red Cross team is still trying to make contact
with Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebels that have been holding
seven Indonesians and six Europeans captive in the jungles of
Irian Jaya since Jan. 8.

The three-member team from Jakarta, which started its mission
on Friday, has dropped seven bags of leaflets around the
Mapunduma village.

The hostages are believed to be near the area of Mapunduma, in
the Timika regency, which lies on a 4,000-meter-high jungle-clad
mountain.

Contact with the rebels was last made on Jan. 25, when Roman
Catholic Bishop Herman Munninghoff went by helicopter to
Mapunduma and met rebel leader Kelly Kwalik.

As of Saturday evening, the separatist rebels led by the
notorious Kwalik had not given any response, the Antara news
agency reported yesterday.

The mission called on the OPM guerrillas to establish radio
contact.

"We are from the Geneva-based International Red Cross. We have
come here as you requested and we look forward to meeting you,"
said one of the leaflets written in three languages: Indonesian,
Amungme and Duga.

The IRC assured the rebels that the team was independent and
using civilian pilots.

Meanwhile, Albert Hasibuan and Asmara Nababan from the
National Commission on Human Rights left the Irian Jaya capital
of Jayapura for Wamena in a separate bid to help release the
captives.

Last week, quoting military sources, Reuter reported that the
rebels appeared to be heading west from Mapunduma towards
Tembagapura, near Timika, where Freeport Indonesia operates a
giant gold and copper mine.

Irian Jaya officials attributed the OPM's low-level rebellion
to the local tribal people's communal land, which was acquired
for Freeport's projects at prices set by the authorities. (pan)