“Jungle Hostages—II: Negotiating Peoples’ Lives Across Cultures”

Negotiating with the Freedom Fighters was very difficult. Stephen representing the UN and relevant diplomatic missions of foreign hostages (the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands) maintained overview through a shared Steering Group as negotiating directly was seen as inappropriate intrusion into Indonesian sovereignty. The Group set the context, rules, and offers, and maintained constant relations with the Indonesian military, seeking to hold them back from attack which would inevitably place the hostages in serious danger. After early attempts via expatriate jungle missionaries failed, the team brought in the International Red Cross (ICRC) to conduct direct negotiations in the jungle. The Steering Group was able to get a satellite phone to them, but contact could be extremely difficult as they were hiding and constantly moving in the jungle. Direct negotiation in the jungle was eventually established involving an ICRC doctor who was sensitive to the cultural difference that had to be crossed for any chance of success. This chapter takes the reader into the jungle and behind the negotiation dynamics until finally agreement was established to hold a public ceremony led by the OPM leader to release the hostages.