Papua separatists kill American pilot in ‘message’ to US and Indonesia
✓Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive easternmost region of Papua have shot dead an American pilot and set a civilian plane on fire, in what a spokesperson for a local militant group described as a “message” to the US and Indonesian governments.
Sebby Sambom, a spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), named the pilot as Nicholas F Gosselin and said separatist fighters had set his plane on fire after it landed in the Yahukimo region of Highland Papua province.
He claimed the aircraft had been “frequently dropping Indonesian military personnel and violating the TPNPB’s ultimatum”.
A low-level battle for independence from Indonesia has long raged in the resource-rich western half of Papua, where attacks by independence fighters have grown deadlier and more frequent as they have procured better weaponry.
Yusuf Sutejo, a spokesperson for Indonesia’s joint police-military operations in Papua, confirmed that a plane with an American pilot carrying seven passengers had been found burned at an airport in Yahukimo, but he could not confirm whether it had been attacked by rebels or whether the pilot had been killed. All the passengers were Papuans, he said.
The Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua share an island with Papua New Guinea, and its indigenous population has been engaged with a low-level insurgency with Indonesia for about half a century.
After the departure of Dutch colonisers, and disagreement between Papuans, the Netherlands, and Indonesia, the United Nations sponsored a treaty appointing Indonesia as temporary administrator.
In 1969 a UN resolution affirmed the so-called “Act of Free Choice”– a referendum which saw 1,026 hand-picked West Papuans vote to remain with Indonesia, but which has been repeatedly dismissed by international observers as unrepresentative and coerced.
Indonesia maintains the regions have always been Indonesian and the resolution simply affirmed its sovereignty.
A guerrilla separatist movement grew and violence has continued ever since, with claims more than half a million West Papuan people have been killed, as well as countless arrested and injured, and villages destroyed. Indonesia is regularly accused of human rights abuses, which it denies.
In recent years the West Papua cause has gained increased support from regional neighbours, including Vanuatu, Tuvalu, and the Marshall Islands, but a 2017 independence petition – signed by 1.8 million West Papuans and smuggled out of the country to the UN’s decolonisation committee – was rebuffed as outside its mandate.
Sebby said the attack in the Balinggama district of Yahukimo was a message to the Indonesian and US government for “failing to address the root causes of the conflict in Papua between the Indonesian military and the West Papua National Liberation Army”. He said rebels would start conducting attacks if Indonesia kept allowing civilian aircraft to enter rebel-controlled red zones of Papua.
Rebels carried guns and axes and raised the Morning Star flag, a symbol of independence, while announcing the attack, according to a video sent by TPNPB.
The US embassy in Jakarta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Indonesia’s transportation ministry said the plane had carried one pilot and seven passengers and had flown to Yahukimo from Wamena, another city in Highland Papua.
It said communications had ceased after the plane landed. The aircraft is owned by the airline operator PT AMA, whose planes carry food, fuel and mail to remote villages in Papua, according to its website. PT AMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In February 2023, Papuan rebels kidnapped a New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, after he landed a small commercial plane in the remote, mountainous area of Nduga in Highland Papu. They freed him in September 2024.
Read the full story at Al Jazeera ↗ · The Guardian ↗
Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Papua region have killed an American pilot and burned a civilian aircraft, according to a spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB). The pilot was identified as Nicholas F Gosselin. A TPNPB spokesperson described the action as a political message to the US and Indonesian governments, claiming the plane had been used to transport Indonesian military personnel in violation of rebel demands. Indonesian officials confirmed a burned aircraft with an American pilot was found at Yahukimo airport but did not verify rebel involvement or the pilot's death. The broader context involves a decades-long independence struggle in Papua, where Indonesia's sovereignty is disputed by separatists and some international observers. Papua's indigenous population has sought independence for roughly fifty years, with disputed historical claims to UN-sanctioned legitimacy and documented allegations of Indonesian military abuses.
Read the full story at Al Jazeera ↗ · The Guardian ↗
Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive easternmost region of Papua have shot dead an American pilot and set a civilian plane on fire, in what a spokesperson for a local militant group described as a “message” to the US and Indonesian governments.
Sebby Sambom, a spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), named the pilot as Nicholas F Gosselin and said separatist fighters had set his plane on fire after it landed in the Yahukimo region of Highland Papua province.
He claimed the aircraft had been “frequently dropping Indonesian military personnel and violating the TPNPB’s ultimatum”.
A low-level battle for independence from Indonesia has long raged in the resource-rich western half of Papua, where attacks by independence fighters have grown deadlier and more frequent as they have procured better weaponry.
Yusuf Sutejo, a spokesperson for Indonesia’s joint police-military operations in Papua, confirmed that a plane with an American pilot carrying seven passengers had been found burned at an airport in Yahukimo, but he could not confirm whether it had been attacked by rebels or whether the pilot had been killed. All the passengers were Papuans, he said.
The Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua share an island with Papua New Guinea, and its indigenous population has been engaged with a low-level insurgency with Indonesia for about half a century.
After the departure of Dutch colonisers, and disagreement between Papuans, the Netherlands, and Indonesia, the United Nations sponsored a treaty appointing Indonesia as temporary administrator.
In 1969 a UN resolution affirmed the so-called “Act of Free Choice”– a referendum which saw 1,026 hand-picked West Papuans vote to remain with Indonesia, but which has been repeatedly dismissed by international observers as unrepresentative and coerced.
Indonesia maintains the regions have always been Indonesian and the resolution simply affirmed its sovereignty.
A guerrilla separatist movement grew and violence has continued ever since, with claims more than half a million West Papuan people have been killed, as well as countless arrested and injured, and villages destroyed. Indonesia is regularly accused of human rights abuses, which it denies.
In recent years the West Papua cause has gained increased support from regional neighbours, including Vanuatu, Tuvalu, and the Marshall Islands, but a 2017 independence petition – signed by 1.8 million West Papuans and smuggled out of the country to the UN’s decolonisation committee – was rebuffed as outside its mandate.
Sebby said the attack in the Balinggama district of Yahukimo was a message to the Indonesian and US government for “failing to address the root causes of the conflict in Papua between the Indonesian military and the West Papua National Liberation Army”. He said rebels would start conducting attacks if Indonesia kept allowing civilian aircraft to enter rebel-controlled red zones of Papua.
Rebels carried guns and axes and raised the Morning Star flag, a symbol of independence, while announcing the attack, according to a video sent by TPNPB.
The US embassy in Jakarta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Indonesia’s transportation ministry said the plane had carried one pilot and seven passengers and had flown to Yahukimo from Wamena, another city in Highland Papua.
It said communications had ceased after the plane landed. The aircraft is owned by the airline operator PT AMA, whose planes carry food, fuel and mail to remote villages in Papua, according to its website. PT AMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In February 2023, Papuan rebels kidnapped a New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, after he landed a small commercial plane in the remote, mountainous area of Nduga in Highland Papu. They freed him in September 2024.
Read the full story at Al Jazeera ↗ · The Guardian ↗
Separatist rebels in Papua shot dead pilot Nicholas F Gosselin and set his civilian plane on fire in Yahukimo TPNPB spokesperson Sebby Sambom claimed the aircraft had been 'frequently dropping Indonesian military personnel and violating the TPNPB's ultimatum' Indonesian officials confirmed a burned plane with an American pilot was found at Yahukimo airport but could not confirm rebel involvement or the pilot's death A 1969 UN resolution affirmed Indonesia's sovereignty through a referendum, but international observers have dismissed it as unrepresentative and coerced Describing the attack as a 'message' frames it as political communication rather than mere violence Claims of 'more than half a million West Papuan people killed' are widely cited but difficult to independently verify Papua's independence movement has been characterised as a 'low-level insurgency', a framing that emphasizes its limited scale relative to its duration
Read the full story at Al Jazeera ↗ · The Guardian ↗
- Separatist fighters in Indonesia's Papua region shot and killed American pilot Nicholas F Gosselin and burned his civilian aircraft in Yahukimo
- TPNPB spokesperson claimed the attack was a 'message' to US and Indonesian governments, citing the plane's use for military transport and violations of a stated ultimatum
- Indonesian officials confirmed a burned plane with an American pilot in Yahukimo but did not confirm rebel involvement or the pilot's death
- Papua has experienced a half-century low-level independence insurgency against Indonesia with disputed UN history and ongoing human rights allegations