Category Archives: Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea riots: at least nine dead in Port Moresby as more police sent to capital

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Prime minister James Marape has called on police officers who are protesting over pay cut to report for duty

At least nine people have been killed in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, amid widespread looting and arson after a day of protests as extra police were sent to quell unrest.

The CEO of Port Moresby general hospital Paki Molumi said on Thursday the death toll in the capital stood at nine. A further seven were killed in the city of Lae, in the country’s north, Australian broadcaster ABC cited police as saying.

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Papua New Guinea capital rocked by violent riots as police strike over pay

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Governor blames looting on ‘opportunists’ as officers are redeployed to Port Moresby from regional areas

People have been killed and shops and businesses set on fire in the capital of Papua New Guinea after police went on strike over pay, according to the local governor.

Property in Port Moresby had been looted by “opportunists” after events “spiralled out of control”, the governor of the National Capital District, Powes Parkop, said in a radio broadcast.

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Australia to train Papua New Guinea police as two nations strike new security deal

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PNG prime minister, James Marape, said the historic deal did not mean his country was picking between China and the west

Australia will help train Papua New Guinea police as part of a wide-ranging security deal signed on Thursday.

The prime minister of PNG, James Marape, said the “historic” deal did not mean his country was picking between China and the west at a time of growing rivalry for influence across the Pacific.

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Refugees in PNG told they will be evicted next week after Australian-sponsored housing bills not paid

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Australian-funded humanitarian program has not funded housing, food and medical services for over a year, providers say

Refugees and asylum seekers held by Australia in Papua New Guinea for 10 years will be evicted from their accommodation in a week – and have their groceries, medical and security services cut – because the bills for their accommodation, healthcare and food have not been paid for more than a year.

Many of the 64 men have been living without electricity, and some without food, for more than two weeks.

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PNG to investigate corruption claims in Australia-funded refugee program

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Papua New Guinea’s immigration minister John Rosso says whistleblower’s ‘serious allegations’ revealed by the Guardian have prompted audit

Allegations of widespread corruption and mismanagement within the Australia-funded refugee support program in Papua New Guinea will be formally investigated by the Port Moresby government.

After allegations from a whistleblower inside PNG’s immigration authority that millions of dollars had potentially been misused, PNG’s deputy prime minister, also the minister for immigration, John Rosso, has ordered an audit into where the money has gone.

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‘Unjust and cruel’ lack of clarity still hangs over 64 refugees exiled in PNG

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Questions remain following whistleblower claims of corruption and nepotism in the Australian-sponsored program

Refugees exiled in Papua New Guinea have labelled the lack of clarity about their fate “cruel and confusing” after explosive claims of “missing” Australian funds and assurances of resettlement from Port Moresby that have not been actioned by the Australian government.

Questions remain unanswered for the 64 refugees, many of whom were sent to Manus Island’s illegal detention centre more than 10 years ago. One refugee in Port Moresby, who wished to remain anonymous, said the lack of clarity about his fate was cruel.

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Last refugees in Papua New Guinea to begin leaving ‘within weeks’ after Australian funding runs out

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Exclusive: Men left without healthcare and facing eviction, while local businesses are owned tens of millions of dollars

The final group of refugees still held in Papua New Guinea a decade after being exiled there by Australia will begin leaving “within weeks”, the country’s migration chief has committed, saying the majority will be resettled in New Zealand, while those suffering acute health problems will be brought to Australia for treatment.

There is an increased urgency to resolve the situations of the final cohort of refugees and asylum seekers left in PNG after the closure of Australia’s illegal offshore detention centre on Manus Island. The Australian public money provided to PNG to care for the men following the closure of Australia’s illegal offshore detention centre on Manus Island has run out, according to PNG officials, leaving the men without vital health services and facing eviction, while local businesses are owned tens of millions of dollars.

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PNG threatens to send refugees back to Australia unless it keeps funding humanitarian program

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Exclusive: Papua New Guinea official accuses Australia of abandoning 70 men but government maintains it has no responsibility for them

Refugees exiled to Papua New Guinea a decade ago will be sent back to Australia if the Australian government fails to continue funding PNG’s humanitarian program, Port Moresby’s most senior migration official has warned.

PNG’s chief migration officer, Stanis Hulahau, said the refugees had been abandoned by Australia and the PNG businesses that had been housing and caring for the men were owed tens of millions of dollars.

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Refugees in PNG told they will be evicted after Australian-sponsored housing bills not paid

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Exclusive: Former Manus Island detainees facing loss of accommodation, but the Australian government claims it is no longer responsible for their welfare

Refugees exiled to Papua New Guinea by Australia have been told they will be evicted from their Australian-sponsored accommodation after bills were not paid for more than a year.

The refugees and asylum seekers were formerly detained within Australia’s Manus Island detention centre before it was ruled unlawful and ordered shut by PNG’s supreme court. About 70 men remain held in PNG, most in rented accommodation in Port Moresby.

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Solomon Islands prime minister says US must respect Pacific leaders

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Manasseh Sogavare hits out at US after skipping Biden summit as $200m in funding for Pacific nations draws criticism for ‘trying to play catch up’

The prime minister of Solomon Islands has criticised Washington, saying the US must respect Pacific leaders, after Joe Biden pledged $200m for the region in an effort widely seen as a push against China’s growing presence.

Biden hosted a group of Pacific leaders at a summit in Washington this week, after a similar meeting a year earlier.

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Papua New Guinea killings: what’s behind the outbreak in tribal fighting?

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Up to 150 killed in Enga Province as experts say weaker legal systems, weapons access and ‘loss of hope’ fuel deadly clashes

An outbreak of violence has killed up to 150 people in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, local police said, in what one expert described as a “bushfire that has got out of control” as more forces are sent to calm clashes in the region.

While tribal fighting is not unusual in parts of Papua New Guinea, the issue attracted international attention last week after disturbing footage appearing to show three naked men, tied-up and dragged behind a truck as onlookers cheered, circulated on social media.

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Fiji prime minister warns against US and China attempts to ‘polarise’ Pacific

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Sitiveni Rabuka says island countries must be ‘zone of non-aligned territories’ and hopes big powers will avoid military conflict

The Pacific islands should be a “zone of peace”, Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, has said, adding that he hopes a rivalry between the US and China in the strategic region does not develop into a military conflict.

Rabuka was speaking after attending a summit meeting of several Pacific island leaders, where climate change and regional security dominated the agenda. The leaders of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia’s ruling FLNKS party met in Vanuatu on Thursday.

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Australia settles with family of refugee Reza Barati, murdered on Manus Island in 2014

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Exclusive: The government has reached a confidential settlement with Barati’s family, who say they ‘fought for justice for Reza’

The Australian government has reached a confidential settlement with the family of the refugee Reza Barati, nine years after he was murdered by guards inside the Manus Island detention centre, and two years after his parents sued over his death.

Barati was 23 when he was beaten to death by guards and other contractors during a violent rampage inside the Australian-run offshore detention centre in February 2014. His assailants attacked him with a length of timber spiked with nails, repeatedly kicked and punched him once he had fallen and dropped a large rock on his head.

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‘We depend on our beautiful reefs’: Fukushima water release plan sparks concern across Pacific

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Some fishers say they lack information and worry about Japan’s plan to discharge treated wastewater into the sea

Every day fisher Charlie Maleb takes his string lines and his nets out from Wala Island, Vanuatu, into the Pacific Ocean.

The 54-year-old drops his net around 5am and waits an hour before pulling it out, hoping to catch sardines, poulet and mangrove fish. Later in the day Maleb drops a line attached to a traditional fishing rod, fashioned out of a long tree branch.

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US military will have ‘unimpeded’ access to Papua New Guinea bases under new security deal

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Deal signed last month gives US ‘exclusive use’ of parts of bases, as Palau PM says he has asked US to step up patrols after Chinese incursions into its waters

The US military can develop and operate out of bases in Papua New Guinea, according to a landmark security pact that is part of Washington’s efforts to outflank China in the Pacific.

The full text of the deal was tabled in Papua New Guinea’s parliament on Wednesday evening and obtained by AFP, shedding light on details that have been closely guarded since the pact was signed in May.

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Australia to transport last asylum seekers off Nauru within weeks, refugees say

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Exclusive: Three asylum seekers and refugee advocates say government has flagged a 30 June goal

The Australian government is expected to move all remaining refugees and asylum seekers off Nauru by the end of the month, more than a decade after offshore processing restarted on the Pacific Island nation.

But Australia will retain an “enduring” capacity for offshore detention on the island indefinitely.

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Papua New Guinea won’t be base ‘for war to be launched’, says PM, after US security deal

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James Marape says agreement has clause saying Pacific country is not to be ‘used as a place for launching offensive military operations’

Papua New Guinea will not be used as a base for “war to be launched”, prime minister James Marape has said, as the Pacific country signed a defence agreement with the US amid a race against China for influence in the region.

Marape said on Tuesday the agreement – which he said he would release in full for public scrutiny on Thursday – prohibited “offensive military operations”.

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Papua New Guinea’s security deal with the US is a win for Washington – for now

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Prime minister James Marape was at pains to say he did not want to be forced to make a choice between the US and China

He may have just signed a new defence cooperation agreement with the United States, but the prime minister of Papua New Guinea was determined to make it clear that he did not want to be forced into making a binary choice between Washington and Beijing.

Speaking after the deal was struck, James Marape reflected the view of Pacific leaders that they should not simply be seen as chess pieces in a broader geopolitical struggle,as China and the US step up their efforts to expand their influence among Pacific island countries. For Pacific countries, their priorities lie in their development needs and action on the climate crisis.

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US and Papua New Guinea sign pact amid Pacific militarisation concerns

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Concerns security deal could leave Papua New Guinea stuck between increasingly hostile US and China

The US has signed a security pact with Papua New Guinea despite concerns within the country about increasing militarisation as Washington competes with Beijing for influence in the Pacific.

The state department said the new agreement would provide $45m (£36m) to help improve security cooperation, including protective equipment for the Papua New Guinea defence force, plus help in mitigating the effects of the climate crisis, transnational crime and HIV/Aids.

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Quad summit cancelled after Joe Biden calls off trip to Australia

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Leaders of Japan, India, US and Australia will instead meet on sidelines of the G7 in Hiroshima this weekend

Anthony Albanese has confirmed the Sydney Quad meeting will not go ahead, after US president Joe Biden pulled out of his Australian visit to deal with domestic issues.

Early Wednesday morning Albanese was still hopeful the meeting with the leaders of India and Japan could proceed with a senior representative from the US, but hours later he confirmed the event was off.

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