Jayapura, Indonesia: Gunmen stormed a helicopter and killed its New Zealand pilot shortly after it landed in Indonesia’s restive Papua region on Monday, and they released two health workers and two children it was carrying, police said.
Glen Malcolm Conning, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company PT Intan Angkasa Air Service, was shot to death by gunmen allegedly with the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, after landing in Alama, a remote village in Mimika district of Central Papua province, said Faizal Ramadhani, a National Police member who heads the joint security peace force in Papua.
He said the gunmen released the Indigenous Papuan passengers and set fire to the plane.
“All passengers were safe because they were local residents of Alama village,” said Ramadhani, adding that the village is in a mountainous district which can be reached only by helicopter. A joint security force was deployed to search for the attackers, who ran into the dense jungle.
West Papua Liberation Army spokesperson Sebby Sambom told The Associated Press that he had not received any reports from fighters on the ground about the killing.
“But, if that happens, it was his own fault for entering our forbidden territory,” Sambom said, “We have released warnings several times that the area is under our restricted zone, an armed conflict area that is prohibited for any civilian aircraft to land.”
Sambom called on Indonesian authorities to stop all development in Papua until the government is willing to negotiate with the rebels, and “if anyone disobeys, they must bear the risk themselves”.
Conflicts between Indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces are common in the impoverished Papua region, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia. Conflict has spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed.
Monday’s killing was the latest violence against New Zealand nationals in the Papua region.
Kogoya and his troops stormed a single-engine plane shortly after it landed on a small runway in a mountainous village. Planning to use the pilot to negotiate, Kogoya has said they won’t release Mehrtens unless Indonesia frees Papua as a sovereign country.
In 2020, seven employees of PT Freeport Indonesia, including a New Zealand miner, Graeme Thomas Wall from Ngaruawahia, were attacked by gunmen in a parking area in Tembagapura mining town. Wall was shot in his chest and died.
Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a UN-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered in the mineral-rich region, which is divided into six provinces.
Flying is the only practical way of accessing many areas in the mountainous easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua.
AP
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Cartenz Peace Operation confirmed that an armed criminal group took hostage and killed a New Zealand Pilot for Intan Angkasa Air Service, Glen Malcolm Conning, 50-year old, on Monday, August 5, 2024, in Alama District, Mimika Regency, Central Papua.
Head of the Cartenz Peace Operation, Brigadier General Faizal Ramadhani, confirmed that the pilot was killed upon landing. The helicopter was carrying four passengers, including two health workers, a baby, and a child.
Authorities said Alama District is isolated and can only be reached by helicopters.
Head of Public Relations for the Cartenz Peace Operation, Grand Commissioner Bayu Suseno stated that a witness said the armed group intercepted the pilot and passengers using firearms.
"The armed group immediately killed Glen Malcolm Conning," he said in a written statement on Monday, August 5, 2024.
The body of the New Zealand pilot, he said, was taken back to the IWN, MD. 500 ER PK helicopter and was burned along with it.
"All passengers are safe because they are Alama locals,” he said.
Bayu said the National Police, the military, and the Mimika Police are still pursuing the armed group responsible for the hostage-taking and murder.
He said the armed group’s plan to free Philip Mark Mehrtens, the Susi Air pilot taken hostage in February last year was just propaganda. "And it happened again today, no? A foreign pilot was killed by the group,” he said.
NOVALI PANJI NUGROHO
Rebels in Indonesia’s Papua are suspected of killing a New Zealand pilot after he landed a helicopter in a remote part of the province on Monday, Indonesian police said.
The 50-year-old pilot, identified as Glen Malcolm Conning, was killed shortly after touching down in Alama district in Mimika regency, said Brig. Gen. Faizal Ramadhani, who leads a joint police and military anti-insurgency task force in the region.
Four passengers who Indonesian authorities said were indigenous Papuans, including a child and baby, were unharmed.
Bayu Suseno, a spokesman for the task force, said the attackers ambushed the helicopter, forcibly removed the occupants, and subsequently executed Conning.
“The pilot’s body was taken [back] to the helicopter and then burned along with the helicopter,” he said in a statement.
New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of the reports out of Papua and that its embassy in Jakarta was seeking further information from authorities.
A spokesman for the insurgent group meanwhile told BenarNews that he had not received information from his forces about the incident.
The attack is the latest by an armed group on aviation personnel in the province where Papuan independence fighters have waged a low-level insurgency against Indonesian rule since the 1960s.
Another New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, was abducted by insurgents from the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) 18 months ago and remains in captivity.
Mehrtens was seized by the fighters on Feb. 7 in the central highlands of Papua. The rebels burned the small Susi Air plane he was piloting and released the Papuan passengers.
While his captors have released videos showing him alive, negotiations to free him have stalled. The group’s demands include independence for the region they refer to as West Papua.
Sebby Sambom, a spokesman for the TPNPB, said if Conning was killed by independence fighters, it was because he should not have been in the area.
“It is within a conflict zone where civilian aircraft are prohibited and all development activities must be halted,” he said in a voice message sent to BenarNews.
“Anyone who ignores this does so at their own risk. What was the New Zealander doing there? We consider him a spy.”
Sambom said in another audio message Monday that the TPNPB planned to release Mehrtens this month or in September, according to ABC Australia. A similar pledge six months ago did not materialize.
Escalating tensions
Poorly armed Papuan fighters have battled Indonesia since the early 1960s, when it took control of the region from the Dutch.
Indonesian rule was formalized in 1969 under a United Nations-supervised referendum where a little more than 1,000 Papuans were allowed to vote.
Allegations of unlawful killings and abuse by Indonesian military and police – along with impunity and the exploitation of the region’s natural resources and widespread poverty – have fueled resentment of Jakarta.
Indonesian authorities meanwhile have blamed rebels for massacres of civilians, kidnappings and terrorizing the local population.
Frits Ramandey, the head of the Papua branch of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), warned that Monday’s killing could escalate tensions in Papua.
“New Zealand’s focus on Indonesia will intensify, and the violence is likely to escalate,” he told BenarNews.
The Papua Peace Network, an NGO, condemned the killing.
“These actions are clearly criminal and prosecutable under Indonesian law,” said Yan Christian Warinussy, a spokesperson for the network.
Yan said the TPNPB’s accusations that Conning might have been a spy were unfounded.
“A thorough investigation by multiple parties, including the police and Komnas HAM, is necessary,” he said.
Head of the BNPB's Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Center, Abdul Muhari, said on Monday that the total budget used to build the two food reserve warehouses was more than Rp82 billion (US$4.9 million) and was undertaken using BNPB's Ready-to-Use Funds (DSP).
The food warehouse in Sinak sub-district has been completed and filled with food reserves, which are ready to be distributed to the community with the help of Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) personnel from the XVII/Cenderawasih Military Regional Command, he added.
Meanwhile, the construction of the warehouse in Agandugume sub-district is still not complete due to difficult access and horizontal conflict disturbances from certain groups, requiring special security from TNI personnel.
"The disturbance has been resolved by TNI personnel. While the Agandugume warehouse is still under construction, food from the Sinak warehouse will be sent to Agandugume," Muhari informed at a BNPB disaster briefing.
According to him, the phenomenon of frozen dew is a serious threat that occurs almost every year in the region, causing food shortages and threat of starvation in both sub-districts.
Related news: Frozen dew phenomenon at Mount Semeru draws tourists
Frozen dew is a phenomenon involving the appearance of cold dew or frozen snow in mid-July, August, and early September, which freezes land. A similar phenomenon also occurs in Dieng, Central Java.
Muhari said that the frost affects the residents of Puncak Papua since it damages agricultural products, such as tubers and any other food sources they plant and store in the ground.
BNPB recorded the impact of climate and weather in Papua in 1997, 1998, 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2022.
It reported that the air route was opened in 2023 from Timika to Sinak, but not all planes could land in Agandugume, with flight times reaching 40 minutes to 1 hour, or more, due to inadequate airstrip facilities.
Thus, food distribution could only be carried out by caravan-type aircraft from Timika to Sinak, followed by a two-day land journey to Agandugume.
Taking note of this, in 2023, the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, BNPB, Central Papua provincial government, and TNI committed to building a food warehouse in the area.
Related news: Minister updates president on progress to overcome famine in Papua
Related news: TNI distributes food parcels for Highland Papua's Batas Batu residents
Translator: M. Riezko Bima, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
The TPNPB News-As of August 04, 2024Shared by: Sebby Sambom [Jubir COMMNAS TPNPB]Indonesian Government Military Attacks TPNPB OPM Troops In Sinak Using 5 Bombs, 2 Mortirs and 3 GrenadesPress Release of KOMNAS TPNPB OPM Central Headquarters Management For Saturday, August 03, 2024The management of KOMNAS TPNPB OPM Central Headquarters has received an official report on Saturday, August 03, 2024 at exactly 15:00 pm from the commander and troops of TPNPBOPM Kodap Sinak that; the troops of TPPNB OPM have fired on a civilian aircraft at Sinak Airport on Friday, August 02, 2024 at around 1 o'clock 10:02 in the morning.And in the attack, there was a shootout between the Indonesian Government Military and TPNPB OPM Kodap Sinak troops for 2 hours from 10.02 to 12.00 noon. And in the shootout action the military of the Indonesian government has made an attack by firing 2 mortar bombs and 3 grenades thrown using Drone towards the TPNPB troops however, the TPPNB Kodap sinak troops escaped in the attack.Based on the incident, the Management of the Central Headquarters of KOMNAS TPNPB OPM ordered the President Jokowi Dodo and the Army Commander and the POLRI to always prioritize humanitarian law during the internal armed conflict occurred in West Papua. Because, in the attack carried out by the Indonesian Government Military against the TPNPB OPM troops Kodap Sinak has endangered the lives of civilians as well as citizens' plantations when firing 2 mortar bombs and 3 grenades towards the TPNP B OPM troops but not on the target.Management of KOMNAS TPNPB OPM Central Headquarters has announced to all parties that civilian aircraft cannot enter the area of armed conflict. If it enters that will be the main target of our attack. Because, the Indonesian Military officers always use civilian aircraft to carry out the deployment of troops and military logistics to the armed conflict areas in the land of Papua.In a further report TPNPB OPM troops Kodap Sinak added that until today Saturday, 03 August 2024 the situation of the peak district is still on alert 1 by the Indonesian military unit with full force and all the Indonesian military posts have been facilitated more than 2 Mortar Bombs and dozens of grenades in the confrontation Attack carried out by TPNPB OPM forces on all Indonesian military assets.In charge of TPNPB-OPM National Command Headquarters.General Goliath Naaman TabuniTPNPB-OPM High Commander________________________________Lieutenant General Melchizedek AwomDeputy Commander of TPNPB-OPM________________________________Major General Terianus SattoChief of General Staff of TPNPB-OPM_________________________________Major General Lekagak TelenggenGeneral Operations Commander of TPNPB-OPM================================In charge of TPNPB-OPM Sinak Defense District Command.Brigadier General Military MuribCommander KodapMayor Kalenak Murib,Operation Commander of TPNPB Kodap SinakThus the Press Release of the Management of KOMNAS TPNPB OPM Central Headquarters On Saturday, August 03, 2024 and forwarded to all parties by KOMNAS Spokesperson TPPNB OPM Sebby Sambom.And thank you for the good cooperation.
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