Ahead of PNG camp closure
> Detainees refuse to move amid safety fears as centre cuts supplies
SYDNEY: Tensions were high on a Papua New Guinea island yesterday 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 tomorrow, 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 villages.
“The guys (refugees) have said they will stay, they don’t intend to move,” Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul told AFP yesterday.
“As of today, the mess is closed so food will no longer be available inside the detention centre and they (the 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.
Conditions in both camps have been widely criticised by refugee advocates and medical professionals amid reports of widespread abuse, self-harm and mental health problems.
Detainees are barred from being transferred to Australia and Canberra has tried to resettle them in third countries.
“The local people are very angry with the Australian government and are preparing (with) weapons, knives ... They are determined to prevent the (local) government from relocating the refugees,” Behrouz Boochani, a refugee at the Manus camp, told dpa.
He said the locals were worried about having 600 foreign men in their small island community.
“They are planning to block the road and do a protest tomorrow,” he said.
Last week, governor of Manus Island Charlie Benjamin said many locals feared they would be in danger from the refugees and were threatening to arm themselves to stop the men from moving in.
PNG police said they would help move the detainees to temporary location but warned yesterday 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 today, difficult. – Agencies