A former police negotiator has shared insights into some of the high-risk political decisions involved in negotiating the release of a hostage following the release of Kiwi pilot Phillip Mehrtens.
Local police announced on Saturday that Mehrtens was freed after being held captive by a group of separatist fighters, known as the West Papua Liberation Army, who have been demanding independence for the region.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that a wide range of government agencies had been working with Indonesian authorities and others to secure the release for the past 19-and-a-half months.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with staff in both Indonesia and Wellington, has led a sustained whole-of-government effort to secure Phillip Mehrtens’ release, and has also been supporting his family.”
Former police negotiator Lance Burdett told Breakfast that international hostage situations were “complicated” and highly political.
“Often times the initial contact is made through media, you know ‘we have this person’. And then from there, there could be three, four or five parties involved to get messages back and forward.
“It’s never done directly with the people who are the hostage-takers as they want to remain anonymous,” he said.
He said the political negotiations were done at “an extremely high level” involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
“And then it’s negotiated with the politicians, so hopefully there’s a relationship there. Foreign Affairs and Trade sometimes have to put a person on the ground.”
Burdett said it had to be controlled, and there was “so much risk” involved, particularly if the movement was too fast.
“The people that do hostage-taking aren’t stable, they aren’t of a sound mind, and they have an agenda. It’s either going to be political, or it’s money, those are the two things.
“If it’s political agenda, then that falls into the terrorism area which becomes even more complicated. So it has to be done at this higher level for diplomatic reasons.”
Money ‘often’ a factor in release agreements
The West Papua National Liberation Army claim a bribe was paid to secure Mehrtens release, which the Government denied.
“New Zealand’s approach to hostage situations is very clear. We do all that we can to secure the release of our citizens but we do not pay bribes and we do not change our foreign policy,” said Peters in a statement to 1News.
Burdett said while the official line around bribes is that “we don’t negotiate with hostage-takers”, sometimes it does happen.
“Often it does happen, and quite often it would be through insurance companies through the company the person works for.
“There’s always something that [hostage-takers] are after … It’s quite complex and they need money to fund their cause, and to recruit.”
He said for this reason the hostage negotiators are usually highly-skilled, well trained and don’t rush the process.
“You have to have a great understanding of politics,” he said.
‘Lifelong’ impact on Mehrtens
Burdett said the toll on Mehrtens now that he was free would likely be “ongoing” for his entire life.
“It’s going to be ongoing, long-term, probably life-long. It’s such an emotional journey he would have been on for such a long time.
“I couldn’t even start to imagine what that would be like … and then you’d fall into trying to find some sort of pattern. He’s got that going on, that’s rewiring his brain. Because of that, PTSD is going to be a real risk.”
Burdett said usually when hostages are retrieved, they are immediately taken to an independent country alongside their families “just to get to know each other again” following the ordeal.
“He would come back a changed person and he will be getting all the help he needs.”
