West Papuan activist warns foreigners from entering Indonesia rebel war zones

A former West Papuan student activist granted political asylum in Australia has warned that all foreigners will be considered hostage targets in areas declared war zones by Indonesian rebel forces.

The West Papuan Morning Star Flag. Picture: Simon Chillingworth

A former West Papuan student activist granted political asylum in Australia has warned that all foreigners – including Australians – will be considered hostage targets if they stray into areas declared war zones by rebel forces fighting the Indonesian state for independence.

Akouboo Amatus Douw, one of 43 Papuans granted Australian asylum in 2006 and now the Brisbane-based chairman of the Diplomatic Council for the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB) which seized a New Zealand pilot this week, insisted Philip Mehrtens, 37, was a legitimate target and that western nations such as Australia and NZ were “complicit in genocide”.

Mr Douw said the “arrest of NZ pilot Philip Mehrtens operating in the Nduga war zone by OPM’s (Free Papuan Movement) freedom fighters was carried out in order to bring the ongoing state of human suffering and war in West Papua to the attention of the international media and the world community”.

He said the group acted according to “international humanitarian law” but warned Merhtens would not be released until NZ stopped supplying weapons and training to the Indonesian military, and pushed for the United Nations Security Council to resolve the “humanitarian crisis in West Papua”.

A 2022 UN report expressed serious concerns over “shocking abuses against indigenous Papuans, including child killings, disappearances, torture and mass displacement of people”.

“Why was this pilot targeted? Because he flew into the battlefield area declared by the TPNPB in Nduga regency,” Mr Douw said. “They already announced that all government and civilian workers are banned from this area. I think it’s understandable they took this hostage. The airplane belonged to Indonesia and sometimes Indonesian intelligence put spies on flights who will try and infiltrate a local community. This is a war. This is life and death.

“Anybody – not only New Zealand citizens – who works with Indonesia and goes to affected areas will be targeted for hostage taking. He (Mehrtens) is not a civilian. He works for an Indonesian company,” he added.

The TPNPB has declared 12 war zones across the newly created Papua Highland and Central Papua provinces in eastern Indonesia, including Nduga, Timika, Paniai, Intan Jaya, Deiyai, Maybrat Sorong and Puncak Jaya.

Mr Mehrtens was seized by rebel fighters on Tuesday morning after landing a Susi Air commercial flight in Paro, a remote district in the highlands regency of Nduga.

Mr Douw denied he was aiding a terrorist act.

Acting mayor of Nduga Regency Nemia Gwijangge told the Weekend Australian a local negotiating team was on its way to the rebel hideout, but the result of talks could be days away.