New Zealand calls for Kiwi pilot to be freed a year after Papua kidnapping

New Zealand has called for the immediate release of Kiwi pilot Phillip Mehrtens, a year after he was taken hostage by rebels in Indonesia’s Papua
region, its foreign minister said on Monday.
An armed faction of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), led by Egianus Kogoya, kidnapped Mehrtens on Feb. 7, 2023 after he landed a small commercial plane in the remote, mountainous area of Nduga. The group threatened to shoot Mehrtens if talks about Papuan independence were denied.
“We strongly urge those holding Phillip to release him immediately and without harm. His continued detention serves the interests of no one,” New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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. The island’s eastern half is an independent country, Papua New Guinea.