Tensions were high on a Papua New Guinea (PNG) 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 center, 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 immigration policy.
Refugees had been given the option of moving to the other center 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 neighborhoods.
“The guys [refugees] have said they will stay, they don’t intend to move,” Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said. “As of today, the mess is closed so food will no longer be available inside the detention center and they [the center’s management] are going to be issuing food packs ... for two days.”
The plan to close the Manus center came after a ruling by PNG’s Supreme Court last year that holding people there was unconstitutional.
Australian Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton previously said the Manus facility would close by the end of this month.
Conditions in both camps have been widely criticized 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.
It struck a deal with former US president Barack Obama for the US 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 more remain at the camp.
PNG police said they would help move the detainees to temporary locations, but added that the safety of refugees and government workers was “not to be taken for granted.”
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
RSS