Australian Academic and Colleagues Taken Hostage in Papua New Guinea

A map showing Papua province, Indonesia, on Feb. 9, 2023. (USGS/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

An Australian professor and three colleagues are believed to have been taken hostage in a remote area of Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The ABC is reporting on Monday that a group of armed men in the highlands region have taken the four researchers at gunpoint, and it is alleged that a ransom demand has been made for their release.

According to reports, the Australian professor, a Papua New Guinean program coordinator and two graduates of the University of PNG were in the area doing a field study.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for comment.

The Australian government has a policy of not paying ransoms or making concessions to groups who are regarded as terrorists, as it would contravene Australia’s anti-terrorism financing laws.

“The Australian Government does not make payments or concessions to kidnappers. Ransom payments to kidnappers, many of whom are associated with terrorist groups, can be used to fund subsequent terrorist attacks,” the Department of Foreign Affairs advises on its smarttraveller website.

They also note that Australia can not pass on demands to (or influence the decisions of) a foreign government, investigate or give legal advice.

PNG Government Confident of Recovering Hostages

Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape told reporters on Monday that the PNG government is currently having “running conversations” with the group that took the hostages.

“I just want to inform the families of those taken hostage that we have been at work, and contact has been made with people in the bush,” he said.

“We’ve got police and military on standby to assist. But, in the first instance, we want those criminals to release those who are held in captivity.

“We have been keeping this under close wraps because of the sensitivity and the need for us to get our friends [who were] captured, get them alive and safe.”

Marape said that Christian missionaries who had been living in the area for a long period were acting as mediators with the kidnappers and had spoken to the Australian professor by satellite phone.

“This morning, there was positive news that they are alive and villagers on the ground who are not involved in these criminal activities; these villagers have also been assisting in negotiations to get them out,” he said.

“So I’m confident, I’m optimistic, I’m prayerful that we get … them out.”

Second Hostage-Taking Reported

The news of the hostage-taking comes less than two weeks after it was reported that a New Zealand pilot, Philip Mehrtens, was taken hostage by an armed separatist group, the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), in Indonesia’s Papua province.

The group was classified as a terrorist group by the Indonesian government in 2021.

Mehrtens was kidnapped on Feb. 7 by TPNPB, after they stormed his commercial plane when it landed at Paro village in the Nduga. The armed group demanded that New Zealand’s government enter into face-to-face negotiations with them for the release of their pilot.

However, they have also said that Mehrtens would not be released until the Indonesian government recognizes Papuan sovereignty.

The plane, operated by Indonesian aviation company Susi Air, was carrying five passengers. The rebel group reportedly released the five indigenous Papuan passengers and set fire to the plane.

A spokesperson for the group, Sebby Sambom, said on Feb. 15 that Mehrtens is safe.

“He’s staying with our friends and family at the … headquarters. He has good skills, and we will look after him, and he will train our soldiers for how to fly an aircraft,” Sambom was quoted as saying by RNZ.

He said the group targeted New Zealand because it supplies Indonesia with weaponry and trains Indonesia’s military.

Sambom did not specify the demands that the group made of New Zealand in exchange for Mehrtens’ release.

Hostages Part of TPNPB Peaceful Negotiations

ABC News reported that TPNPB wanted New Zealand to facilitate between the West Papuan separatists and Indonesia’s authorities while also involving the United Nations Security Council.

Akouboo Amatus Douw, chairman of TPNPB’s diplomatic council, said the separatist group would formally send its demand to New Zealand and urged New Zealand to cease its assistance to Indonesia.

Douw said that Mehrtens will not be freed until their demands were fulfilled.

“Countries who are supporting and training the military and police in Indonesia must stop. More specifically, [that means] New Zealand and Australia,” Douw told the news outlet.

Rebecca Zhu contributed to this report.