The NZ pilot held hostage in West Papua is the pawn in a conflict only real international engagement can resolve
- Written by Camellia Webb-Gannon, Lecturer, University of Wollongong
“Phil Mehrtens is the nicest guy, he genuinely is – no one ever had anything bad to say about him”, says a colleague of the New Zealand pilot taken hostage this week by members of the West Papuan Liberation Army (TPN-PB) in the mountainous Nduga Regency.
How such a nice guy became a pawn in the decades-long conflict between West...
