A West Papuan independence leader has called for the release of a New Zealand pilot who was taken hostage in Papua recently. The leader from the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Benny Wenda, said that the pilot, who was working for an aviation firm in Indonesia, should not be held responsible for political issues in the troubled region. Meanwhile, Indonesia has recovered the bodies of four troops who were killed in a clash in Papua. The soldiers had been searching for the pilot when they were attacked by rebels. Three other troops were found dead earlier in the week. The rebels had claimed that 10 soldiers were killed in the ambush. However, this has been dismissed as false by the Indonesian authorities. The situation in Papua remains volatile; human rights organisations have been calling for an investigation into allegations of abuses by Indonesian authorities.
