“Jungle Hostages—I: Capture”

Now, we confront the danger that can, in this world, suddenly confront you—particularly as people fight for rights denied or for their own welfare against a wall of poverty. Just six months into Stephen’s tenure, two international staff were taken hostage along with other international and Javanese people into the jungles of West Papua by Freedom Fighters (OPM) seeking to bring international attention to their repression from Indonesian governance and a corrupt murdering military in their jungle world. The saga lasted for over 5 months while the captors moved continuously to avoid military attack and we, from the international community affected, sought to negotiate. Martha, the young woman from Stephen’s Office—on mission to assist development of a World Heritage Park, was pregnant, her baby, if born in the jungle would become the new Messiah for the people and protect combatants from bullets fired by military aggressors. Chapter 5 , then the following Chaps. 6 and 7 take the reader into this world where ever-present danger formed the daily experience of the hostages whilst contact from outside with the rebel movement in the jungle was extremely difficult. Stephen’s United Nations world and responsibilities became very different indeed.