Indonesian authorities said Saturday the New Zealand pilot who’s been held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region has been freed by separatist rebels
FILE - Police guard a hospital where workers threatened by Papuan rebels were brought for medical examinations in Mimika, Papua province, Indonesia, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. Security forces evacuated the workers from an area where they were searching for a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by separatist rebels of the West Papua Liberation Army.
Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 under a United Nations-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered in the region. Conflict spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed. Suseno said that Mehrtens’ release was the result of hard work from a small task force team that had been communicating with the separatists led by Kogoya through the local church and community leaders, as well as youth figures.
Peters said a wide range of New Zealand government agencies had been working with Indonesian authorities and others to secure the release for the past 19 1/2 months. Officials were also supporting Mehrtens’ family, Peters said.“The case has taken a toll on the Mehrtens family, who have asked for privacy,” Peters said. “We ask media outlets to respect their wishes and therefore we have no further comment at this stage.
Mehrtens was in Timika, Papua, Peters said, but would travel to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, “very, very soon to be reunited with his family.” “It was quite nerve-wracking, holding our nerve and not getting too carried away, not doing anything that might imperil the chances,” he said. “Because there was always a concern of ours that we might not succeed.”
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