A New Zealand pilot who was taken hostage last month by rebels in Indonesia’s Papua region has appeared in videos put out by separatists calling for the UN to mediate in the conflict in the region.
Pilot Phillip Mehrtens, who works for the small, domestic Susi Air service, was abducted by the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) on Feb. 7 after landing at an airstrip in Nduga district.
“OPM requests the United Nations to mediate between Papua and Indonesia to work towards Papuan independence,” Mehrtens said in one video, echoing comments in a earlier video statement, in which he said he would only be released if Papua became independent.
Photo: Reuters / The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) / handout
Reuters could not independently verify where and when the videos were taken.
Sebby Sambom, a spokesman for the rebels, said the footage was taken on Monday.
Papua, the western half of New Guinea island, has seen a low-level separatist insurgency since the region that was once governed by the Netherlands was brought under Indonesian control following a UN-supervised vote in 1969 that separatists say was flawed.
Indonesia’s chief security minister and other officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the videos.
Since the rebels seized the pilot, officials have sought to use dialogue to secure his release, saying a “law enforcement operation” would be a last resort.
In one of the videos, Mehrtens read out a statement while sitting in a jungle clearing and surrounded by a group of men, some with guns and one with a bow.
Wearing a blue jacket, beige trousers and a camouflage hat, Mehrtens said he had been instructed to read the statement with new demands from OPM.
“No foreign pilots are permitted to work and fly in Papua until Papua is independent,” Mehrtens said.
In another of the videos, Mehrtens sent his love to his family, and asked that any salary he was owed be given to them for food and bills.
“Try not to worry about me, I am being taken care of as well as can be expected given the situation,” he said, adding that he was getting enough food and water, warm clothes and medicine.
“Hopefully we can be together soon,” he said.
In a third video, a separatist called on states such as Australia, Britain, China, France, New Zealand, Russia and the US to stop military cooperation with Indonesia.
BACKING THE APPLICATION: Ankara’s move is expected to enable Helsinki to join the alliance, while the Turkish president is still opposed to backing Sweden’s application Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday ended months of diplomatically charged delays and asked the Turkish parliament to back Finland’s bid to join NATO. A simultaneous decision by fellow holdout Hungary to schedule a Finnish ratification vote for March 27 means the US-led defense alliance would likely grow to 31 nations within a few months. NATO’s expansion into a country with a 1,340km border with Russia would double the length of the bloc’s frontier with its Cold War-era foe. Finland had initially aimed to join together with fellow NATO aspirant Sweden, which is facing a litany of disputes with Turkey that
The US and the Philippines plan to announce new sites as soon as possible for an expanded Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which gives the Western power access to military bases in the Southeast Asian country. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr last month granted the US access to four military bases, on top of five existing locations under the 2014 EDCA, amid China’s increasing assertiveness regarding the South China Sea and Taiwan. Speaking at the Basa Air Base in Manila, one of the existing EDCA sites, US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said the defense agreements between the two countries
Seven stories above a shop floor hawking cheap perfume and nylon underwear, Thailand’s “shopping mall gorilla” sits alone in a cage — her home for 30 years despite a reignited row over her captivity. Activists around the world have long campaigned for the primate to be moved from Pata Zoo, on top of a Bangkok mall, with singer Cher and actor Gillian Anderson adding their voices in 2020. However, the family who owns Bua Noi — whose name translates as “little lotus” — have resisted public and government pressure to relinquish the critically endangered animal. The gorilla has lived at Pata for more
Former US president Donald Trump said he expects to be “arrested” tomorrow over an alleged hush-money payment to a porn star in 2016 and urged his supporters to protest as prosecutors gave signs of moving closer to an indictment. If indicted, he would be the first former US president to be charged with a crime, marking an explosive and unpredictable development in next year’s White House race as Trump seeks again to clinch the Republican nomination. “Leading Republican candidate & former President of the United States of America will be arrested on Tuesday of next week,” the 76-year-old said on Saturday on
RSS