Violent ethnic clashes in Papua New Guinea’s port city of Lae have left up to nine people dead and forced the closure of many businesses in the vital hub, Papua New Guinean Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said.
The rioting, which damaged and destroyed homes, businesses and other properties, has also reportedly left 1,000 people homeless.
O’Neill, who took the reins of the impoverished, but resource-rich Pacific country in August, has ordered 120 extra police to the town and said he stood ready to impose a state of emergency if calm was not restored soon.
“Lae has been gripped by violence since Thursday, resulting in destruction to properties and loss of nine lives reported,” a statement from the prime minister’s office said on Sunday.
The rioting, which reportedly began after youths protesting against rising crime began fighting with other groups, saw police use tear gas and guns on thousands of rioters, Radio New Zealand International said.
“Basically, it was total chaos throughout the weekend,” the station’s correspondent in the city said. “A lot of people used things like iron rods and bush knives to attack each other.”
The PNG National newspaper said it had independently confirmed five dead and 26 injured, while the Australian Broadcasting Corp said at least two people had died.
O’Neill said Lae’s port was a vital link for many parts of the rugged mountainous country and a shutdown would not only cripple businesses, but affect the national economy.
“We must not allow our law-abiding citizens to be dragged into this and turn it into an ethnic conflict,” he said in a statement. “We must act to bring the situation under control. I call on leaders in each community in the city to control their people and stand up against violence. I would like to see life in the city return to normal ... and businesses allowed to open their doors.”
O’Neill said an inquiry would be established to investigate the cause of the violence in the country’s second-largest city.
Police reports on the ground suggest that 1,000 people from the remote Highlands have been left homeless after their dwellings on the outskirts of town were burned, police media spokesman Dominic Kakas told the AAP newswire.
On Saturday, the Australian government updated its travel advisory for Papua New Guinea to warn that “clashes” had occurred in Lae since Friday and warned that “further violence could occur in coming days.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to