After months of negotiations, a deal was in hand. Henry Fournier, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Indonesia, flew two weeks ago into the interior of Indonesia's Irian Jaya province to promise a local rebel group new hospitals, doctors and protection from military reprisals if they would release 11 hostages abducted on Jan. 8. The rebels agreed, and a pig was roasted to celebrate. The captives, a jungle-weary multinational band from Indonesia, Britain and the Netherlands, were overjoyed at the prospect of freedom. Before the evening was over, they were bitterly disappointed.

Hope turned to despair when rebel leader Kelik Kwalik, who goes by the nom de guerre "General Kelly," rose to address the group--and up the ante. For the hostages' release, Kwalik demanded Irian Jaya's independence from Indonesia, along with immediate diplomatic recognition from several Western countries. The demands were clearly unacceptable, and Fournier flew back to Jakarta to announce the irrevocable breakdown of negotiations.

That was what the Indonesian military was waiting for. Seven days later, 100 Special Forces Red Beret commandos snaked down ropes from helicopters hovering above the jungle, hauling with them sniffer dogs and remote sensing equipment. On Wednesday they stumbled upon British hostage Anna McIvor, who was hiding in the jungle, and she pointed them in the direction of the rebels and hostages. Shortly afterward the soldiers encountered a group of men armed with M-16 assault rifles. They were no match for the Red Berets. After an 8 1/2-hour gun battle, eight rebels lay dead and nine of their captives were free. Less than two days later, the hostages stepped off a military transport plane at Jakarta's Halim military airport, apparently healthy though dressed in hospital gowns. Among them was Martha Klein, a 33-year-old United Nations administrator from the Netherlands, who is seven months pregnant. Met by her boss, Stephen Hill, director of UNESCO in Jakarta, she embraced him and broke down in tears.

It was a dramatic and largely successful end to an ordeal that began 18 weeks earlier, when a group of rebels, many wearing nothing but orange penis gourds, descended on the village of Mapunduma in the center of the province. They abducted seven Europeans visiting Irian Jaya for its ecological wonders, as well as 19 locals and migrants from other parts of the archipelago. A German hostage and 14 Indonesians were released within weeks, but then negotiations bogged down. The Indonesian military told the foreign missions involved that it would not risk a single soldier's life until all possibilities for compromise were exhausted--a condition fulfilled when Kwalik renewed his call for Irian Jaya's independence, the cause of the Free Papua Movement's 33-year jungle insurgency. Despite the fire fight between soldiers and rebels, no military personnel were killed or injured in the jungle, although a supply-helicopter crash before the operation caused some casualties. Two of the Indonesian hostages were hacked to death shortly before the assault for reasons unknown. Considering that no more hostages died, Lieut. General Soeyono, the Indonesian army's chief of staff, could rightly say, "The rescue was a success."

The kidnappings were also a success of sorts for the 3,000-strong Free Papua Movement, bringing energy and attention to its sporadic struggle against the government in Jakarta and the activities of PT Freeport Indonesia, a mining giant currently dismantling two mountains in the province's south. News of the abductions spread across Irian Jaya, inspiring a spate of riots directed against Indonesian officials and Freeport, a subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. of the U.S. In March tribespeople rampaged through Timika and Tembagapura, where Freeport has operations, damaging the company airport and its new executive headquarters. Several days later, youths rioted in the provincial capital, Jayapura, to protest the death of an Irian separatist leader in a Jakarta jail; four died and two were injured.

That incident aside, the army has shown relative restraint in the province over the past few months, partly because of protests occurring on other islands, such as East Timor and Sulawesi. In addition, the successful hostage rescue provided a boost for the reputation of Brigadier General Prabowo Subianto Soemitro, who commands the Red Berets and is a son-in-law of President Suharto. Some Indonesians think Prabowo could be chosen by his father-in-law to run for Vice President in 1998.

The foreign hostages were released to their embassies late last week, and several were planning a swift return home. A checkup showed that Klein and her baby were both healthy, despite bouts of malaria in the jungle. The Dutch woman is plainly a survivor: last year she was on a passenger ferry that sank off Komodo Island, the native habitat of the man-eating Komodo dragon, and managed to swim to safety. Time for a real holiday, far from dragons and insurgents. --Reported by Michael Shari/Jakarta