Philip Mark Mehrtens has been in captivity since February 7, when he landed a local Susi Air plane with five passengers – who were released – at a remote airport in the Nduga district.
The New Zealand pilot kidnapped more than a month ago in the province of Papa, in the Indonesian area of the island of Nueva Guinea, assured in a video released this Friday by his kidnappers that “to be released once Pope is independent”. “
I have been ordered to make a statement. Foreign pilots are not allowed to work and fly at Papa until it is independent. The UN is urged to mediate between the Pope and Indonesia for their independence. They will release me when Papa is independent,” says the pilot in the video, Philip Mark Mehrtens.
The same, in which Mehrtens can be seen looking calm and surrounded by dozens of rebels, some armed, was sent to various media, including EFE, by Sebby Sambon, spokesman for the Free Pope Movement, which represents various separatist militiasincluding the one that has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, the Papa Occidental National Liberation Army (TPNPB).
The New Zealander states in the video that “they take care of me as well as can be expected in a situation like this”, and that he has been provided with warm clothing, food and water, as well as medicines to be able to tolerate “the long walks we do every day.” Moved, he asks his family to try “not to worry about me” and urges them to be “patient and strong. I hope we can be together soon,” he adds.
The pilot has been in captivity since February 7, when he landed with a small plane of the local company Susi Air with five passengers – who were released – at a remote airport in the district of Nduga, in the province of Papa de las Tierras Altas. This province is located in the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea, while the eastern part of the island belongs to Papa Nueva Guinea.
The Free Pope Movement demanded at the beginning of the kidnapping several demands for the release, including that New Zealand take the conflict to the UN Security Council; for the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation into Indonesia’s “abuses” in Papa Occidental, and that Indonesia recognize the independence of this territory.
The separatists, considered criminals by Indonesia, have indicated that This is the first kidnapping after an incident in 1996when they kidnapped 26 members of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), including four British and two Dutch, in the same area.
Rich in natural resources and divided into six provinces, the “Indonesian Pope” -referred to by separatists as the “Western Pope”-, It is the scene of an armed conflict of low intensity between the central Indonesian state and secessionist movements since the region came under the control of Jakarta in 1969.
According to the criteria of
Know more