Pictures of a New Zealand pilot who was taken hostage by the West Papua Liberation army last week were released on Tuesday. Phillip Mehrtens was captured by members of the rebel army after his plane was stormed and set alight.
Mehrtens was due to airlift 15 construction workers who had been threatened with death while building a health centre in the isolated Nduga district in the Papua province of Indonesia.
‘The plan to evacuate the workers angered the rebels,’ said district chief Namia Gwijangge, one of five people on board the plane when it landed.
According to Sky News, rebel spokesperson, Sebby Sambom, said that the passengers on board the plane were released because they are indigenous Papuans. Mehrtens, however, who is from Christchurch and works for Indonesian firm Susi Air, was taken hostage.
The photos, released on Tuesday, show the pilot in a forest surrounded by people with guns, spears, and bows and arrows, some dressed in traditional clothing. The photos were accompanied by a video of the rebels torching the single-engine plane, as well as one featuring another rebel leader, Egianus Kogoyo, explaining the motive behind the kidnapping.
‘I took him hostage for Papua independence, not for food and drinks,’ he says. ‘He will be safe with me as long as Indonesia does not use its arms, either from the air or on the ground.’
The hostility directed at Indonesia from the West Papua Liberation Army stems from a controversial 1969 vote resulting in the Papua province, which shares a border with Papua New Guinea, becoming part of Indonesia.
Since then, there have been frequent clashes between rebels and Indonesian security forces. As a result, according to Sky News, Papua separatists often view outsiders with suspicion, believing them to be spies.
No rescue mission has been launched yet; however, Indonesian police and officials are in talks with local tribal and community leaders to negotiate Mehrtens’ release. Despite preferring a diplomatic solution, an Indonesian minister has warned that ‘the government does not rule out other efforts’.
New Zealand’s foreign affairs department had yet to comment by late yesterday.
The construction workers who Mehrtens was sent to pick up were rescued by security forces on 8 February after taking refuge in a local priest’s house.