NZ Warned of Possible Indonesian Retaliation After Pilot Released

The release of New Zealand helicopter pilot Phillip Mehrtens by West Papuan rebels has sparked fears of a possible military response from Indonesia. The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has voiced concerns but the Indonesian government has dismissed these fears as “baseless.” West Papua, part of Indonesia since 1963,  has been the site of ongoing conflict between local rebels and the Indonesian government. Briefly an independent country when the Netherlands withdrew from the region, it was invaded by the Indonesian military and, in 1963, a U.N.-brokered agreement—in which the people of West Papua had no say—made the area an Indonesian territory....