Tensions ahead of Oz camp closure on PNG

Sydney, Oct. 29: Tensions were high on a Papua New Guinea island on Sunday as authorities prepared to close an Australian refugee camp, with local police calling for calm as some detainees refused to move.

The Manus Island detention centre, to close on Tuesday, is one of two Pacific camps where asylum-seekers who try to enter Australia by boat are sent for processing under Canberra’s harsh immigration policy.

Refugees had been given the option of moving to the other centre on the island of Nauru but most detainees have shunned the offer, expressing fears that relocation could further prolong their agony.

Some have also refused to relocate on Manus, citing safety fears amid reports they would not be welcomed in local neighbourhoods.

“The guys (refugees) have said they will stay, they don’t intend to move,” refugee action coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said on Sunday.

“As of today, the mess is closed so food will no longer be available inside the detention centre and they (centre’s management) are going to be issuing food packs... For two days.” The plan to close the Manus centre came after a ruling by PNG’s Supreme Court last year that holding people there was unconstitutional.

Australia’s immigration minister Peter Dutton said previously the Manus facility would close by the end of October.

Conditions in both camps have been widely criticised by refugee advocates and medical professionals amid reports of widespread abuse, selfharm and mental health problems.

Detainees are barred from being transferred to Australia and Canberra has tried to resettle them in third countries.

It struck a dealwith former US President Barack Obama for America to resettle an unspecified number of the detainees, but so far just 54 people have been notified of their acceptance and a group of only 24 have flown out.

Hundreds remain at the camp. PNG police said they would help move detainees to temporary locations but warned that the safety of refugees and government workers was “not to be taken for granted”. There was a “small disgruntled faction among the refugees”, police commissioner Gari Baki said, while pleading with locals not to make the transfers — scheduled for Monday difficult.

“The Commissioner of Police is appealing to people of Manus not to create any uncertainty and let the transfer of refugees be done very smoothly,” a police statement said.