Security Mutiny on Manus Island
Refugees on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island say guards from a security company have seized control of two refugee facilities.
They said the guards from the firm Kingfisher have expelled security staff with the company Paladin from their posts at two facilities in Lorengau (at West and Hillside Hauses) where about 300 refugees are housed. In November, the newspaper The Australian reported Kingfisher was a Manusian company vying for security contracts with Port Moresbybased Paladin.
The Kurdish journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani said Kingfisher was contracted to secure equipment like generators but has now assumed all security responsibilities. Mr Boochani said it’s unacceptable that competing companies had jeopardised refugee safety.
This saga followed a road block of the two facilities at the weekend by locals protesting against an open sewer running through their villages.
Video hosted by the Guardian shows a stream of brackish water flowing from West Haus. Mr Boochani said the locals claimed the sewer was making them sick. Signs attached to the roadblock read ‘sewerage smell not tolerable,’ ‘please fix sewerage,’ and ‘we are not invisible.’
The road has been blocked by locals several times since about 600 refugees were forcibly transferred to three facilities in the island’s main town in November.
The locals have continuously raised concerns about the facilities being built too close to their villages without adequate consultation.