A New Zealand pilot being held hostage by separatist forces in a remote region of Indonesia has said he is “alive and well” in a new hostage video.
Philip Mehrtens was taken hostage by the West Papua Liberation Army (TPNPB) on February 7 after soldiers stormed his single-engine plane and set it on fire.
The plane, operated by Indonesian aviation company Susi Air, was carrying five passengers and about 450 kilograms of supplies from Timika, a mining town in neighboring Mimika district.
In a video published online on Monday, Mr Mehrtens denied rumours that he had been killed.
“I've been eating well, drinking. I live with the people here. We travel together as required. We sit together and rest together.”
Later in the clip, Mr Mehrtens claims that the Indonesian army has been dropping bombs in the region over the past week.
“There's no need. It's dangerous for me and everybody here.”
Indonesian troops were attacked last week while searching for Mr Mehrtens, with at least one soldier killed during a rebel attack.
In a statement in February, the TPNPB said that Mr Mehrtens would not be released “unless Indonesia recognises our sovereignty and frees Papua from Indonesian colonialism”.
Rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom said: “The United Nations and the New Zealand government have an obligation to push Indonesia to stop the military operation.”
Conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces are common in the impoverished Papua region.
The former Dutch colony, which lies in the western part of New Guinea, is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.
Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a UN-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as illegitimate.
A pro-independence movement began shortly afterwards and a low-level insurgency continues to this day.
Conflict in the region has spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed.
Last July, gunmen believed to be separatist rebels killed 10 traders who came from other Indonesian islands and an indigenous Papuan.
Mr Sambom later claimed rebel responsibility for the killing, accusing the victims of being spies for the government.
