The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) has released footage showing that a New Zealand pilot they captured last week is alive and well, outlining their intention to use him as leverage in negotiations with the Indonesian government.
Philip Mehrtens was reportedly kidnapped by the insurgents after landing his single-engine Susi Air plane to drop off five passengers in the remote region of Nduga on Feb. 7. His captors then set fire to the aircraft.
Standing between TPNPB fighters armed with rifles and bows and arrows, Mehrtens, who appeared in good health, recited a prepared statement supporting Papua’s independence from Indonesia in one of several videos made available to the media yesterday.
“The Papuan military has taken me captive in their fight for Papuan independence,” Mehrtens said, wearing a t-shirt bearing the West Papua flag underneath his denim jacket.
In another video, a man who introduced himself as Eganius Kogoya, a commander with TPNPB, warned that Mehrtens would be shot and killed if Indonesian forces attacked.
Papua Police Chief Inspector General Mathius D Fakhiri said the footage was sufficient proof that Mehrtens is alive. He said a team is being deployed to negotiate Mehrtens’ release.
However, the general said police must first locate Mehrtens, as they believe that the recently released footage was taken right after his capture last week.
The region has been locked in conflict between indigenous separatist groups and Indonesian security forces for decades, with civilians occasionally getting caught in the crosshairs. Papua was a Dutch colony until the early 1960s, when it declared itself an independent nation in 1961. Neighboring Indonesia took control of the region by force in 1963 and officially annexed it with a UN-backed referendum in 1969 that was widely seen as a sham.
