Posted 01st July 2001

WTO No Solution For PNG

A group of Papua New Guinean soldiers marched Friday to mourn student protesters killed by riot squad police as a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed in the capital, Port Moresby. Against the backdrop of serious military unrest in March, the symbolic gesture added to pressure on the Prime Minister, Sir Mekere Morauta. However, the Australian Government warned, or more like threatened Sir Mekere against giving in to demonstrations against privatisation and land ownership reforms. "If Papua New Guinea stumbles and the reform program is abandoned it will be a disaster for the economy, and it will be a disaster for the people of PNG," the Foreign Minister, Mr Downer, said.

There were reports yesterday that the death toll from three days of disturbances had risen to six. Four deaths, including three students, have been confirmed. The country's main ports remained idle because of industrial action, public transport in Port Moresby virtually ground to a halt and most businesses were closed. The country's trade unions said they were trying to organise a national strike. Sir Mekere called for an end to violence and for all citizens to observe the 7pm to 5am curfew. More than 2,000 protesters gathered Friday outside Port Moresby General Hospital, where the bodies of three students shot by police are in a morgue. There were arguments, including scuffles, over attempts by angry students to obtain the bodies and take them to the Prime Minister's office at the national parliament.

Heavily armed police blocked the proposed route. Speakers at the protest called for the expulsion of representatives of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which support privatisation and changes to ownership laws covering tribal lands. About 60 military personnel marched with heads bowed to express remorse over the deaths of student protesters. The defence force commander, Brigadier-General Carl Malpo, later called on soldiers not to be drawn into the protests. In March a group of soldiers seized dozens of weapons and staged a 12-day revolt over government plans to downsize the defence force. Acting Police Commissioner Joseph Kupo said yesterday that deployment of the army was 'inevitable if the situation escalates". It is unclear whether such a move would split the armed forces. Student leaders have called on the military to withdraw support from Sir Mekere's Government. There are fears that the funerals of at least three Highlanders killed by police could spark rioting in provincial centres such as Mount Hagen. Groups of civilians, many smeared with ash as a sign of mourning, walked yesterday with their hands on their heads, alluding to claims that the students who died had raised their hands to show they were not armed. The Government has maintained that the riot squad was responding to criminal acts, including the burning of a police barracks.

However, the general-secretary of the PNG Trade Union Congress, Mr John Paska, said the killings were an over-reaction. "It was completely unprovoked. They were just a bunch of thugs chasing unarmed students in their own yard and shooting them like hunters." Students at the University of Papua New Guinea have identified police they accuse of killing three student protesters during clashes on Tuesday morning. Leaders of the university student representative council say mobile squad police, flown in from the western highlands, stormed the university campus shooting out lights and knocking down fences. They accuse the police of using high powered weapons and opening fire on students as they were retreating or lying on the ground. The vice-president of PNG's National Union of Students, Paul-John Orthas, says the police action was unjustified. "Police came in full war gear, they came with...M-16s, tear gas," he said. "Students were harmless...they [the police] even followed the students into the campus and no police are allowed to enter the campus... and the students were shot dead there in the campus"

Inquiry

University students have called for an independent inquiry, as some senior police are denying responsibility for the shootings. The PNG Prime Minister, Sir Mekere Morauta, has said that a commission of inquiry will be announced tomorrow and headed by a senior judge. PNG's Police Minister, Jimson Sauk, has also promised an inquiry into the shootings and the circumstances that triggered a series of violent clashes after police broke up what had been a peaceful protest..

Background:

On the early morning of Tuesday 26 of June 2001, PNG police teargassed and opened fire on students protesting against the IMF and World Bank, resulting in 3 dead and 17 wounded. The violence followed a five day peaceful sit-in by up to 3000 University of PNG students, workers, and unemployed outside the office of Prime Minister of PNG, Mekere Morauta in Waigani, about 10 km from central Port Moresby. The demonstrators presented a petition to the Government calling for"

* suspend the entire privatisation scheme

* completely sever ties with the World Bank and IMF

* Scrap the customary land registration scheme and

* If the above are not implemented, the Prime Minister should resign or face a more serious protest with detrimental consequences..