West Papua rebels show change of heart with announcement to release kidnapped New Zealand pilot

A rebel group in Papua, Indonesia’s eastern region, declared on Wednesday that it would free a pilot from New Zealand who it had been holding captive for a year. When pilot Philip Mehrtens was taken hostage exactly a year ago after making a small-plane landing in a mountainous area, it was unclear when he would be freed. According to a statement made by Terianus Satto of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), one of the many organizations battling for Papua’s independence from Indonesia, Mehrtens will be freed in order to “protect humanity and…human rights.” “TPNPB will return the pilot Philip Max Martherns to his family through the jurisdiction of the Secretary General of the United Nations,” he said. New Zealand’s ministry of foreign affairs and trade did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A low-level but increasingly deadly battle for independence has been waged in the resource-rich western half of the island of Papua since it was controversially brought under Indonesian control in a vote overseen by the United Nations in 1969. Indonesia’s government and military, which have struggled to stamp out the separatist movement, had said they were in negotiations to free the pilot. (with inputs from Reuters)