(PINA/IFEX) – On 18 June 2001, the Pacific Islands news service PINA Nius Online reported continuing mystery about two Belgian TV documentary filmmakers who are missing in the jungle-clad hinterland of Indonesian-ruled West Papua. PINA Nius Online said reports from the provincial capital Jayapura said that Johan Elia Theo van Dem Eynde, 47, and Philippe […]
(PINA/IFEX) – On 18 June 2001, the Pacific Islands news service PINA Nius Online reported continuing mystery about two Belgian TV documentary filmmakers who are missing in the jungle-clad hinterland of Indonesian-ruled West Papua.
PINA Nius Online said reports from the provincial capital Jayapura said that Johan Elia Theo van Dem Eynde, 47, and Philippe R.D. Simon, 49, were reportedly working for the Franco-German TV channel Arte.
PINA Nius Online also reported on the following details:
A source in West Papua said a letter signed by a man claiming to lead a pro-independence group was received at Indonesian police headquarters in Jayapura, claiming responsibility for kidnapping the two men. The letter included the demand that the authorities allow the hoisting of the banned pro-independence Morning Star flag atop a mountain in the district in which the men are missing. But the source said police doubted the letter’s validity.
In Brussels, a spokesman for the Belgian foreign ministry, Koen Vervaeke, was quoted by the Agence France-Presse news agency as saying that Indonesian authorities had told them OPM (Free Papua Movement) rebels had kidnapped the two men.
In Jayapura, police spokesman Comr. Zulkifli A.R. told “The Jakarta Post” that police are continuing their search and have also formed a team to handle the case. Zulkifli declined to confirm speculation that the two men had been kidnapped by pro-independence groups hiding in the remote jungle.
PINA Nius Online said the head of the police search team, Sr. Insp. Soma Kubun, told “The Jakarta Post” the two Belgians were last seen leaving a local police station. They had asked for permission to go to a village two or three days’ walk away, he said.
“The Jakarta Post” quoted Soma as saying: “They were offered a guide and security guards, but they turned down the offer, saying they had been there before and there was nothing to worry about.”
Background Information
PINA Nius Online said rebels of the Free Papua Movement are waging a war for independence against Indonesian forces in West Papua, which borders Papua New Guinea. Indonesia took over the resource-rich, mountainous and jungle-clad territory from the Dutch in the 1960s and calls it the province of Irian Jaya.
West Papuan pro-independence groups say a so-called referendum in favour of being part of Indonesia involved only a small number of men and that they were intimidated by the Indonesians, PINA Nius Online said. West Papuans are mainly Melanesians, like the people of neighbouring Pacific Islands countries.
