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Protests in PNG as police ordered in
Agence France Presse - December 15, 2011
Peter O'Neill, one of two rival prime ministers, said 70 extra officers had been jetted in from areas outside the capital Port Moresby and he expected the number to grow to 200, Australian Associated Press reported.
His opponent Sir Michael Somare and his faction are occupying government offices as they attempt to run the country, while O'Neill and his supporters are camped in parliament.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation cited O'Neill as saying police have already seized the government printing office and would take control of the finance department, the prime minister's department and Government House.
But O'Neill said he was not ordering the arrest of Somare or his ministers. "I have no authority... to issue arrest warrants," he told reporters.
"(Somare and his supporters) are totally within their rights... to express their views. But the police have got to do their duty. They (Somare) refuse to come to parliament, because they don't think they can run a minority government. That's unacceptable in any democracy."
Both O'Neill and Somare claim to be leader of the resource – rich Pacific nation, home to tribal groups speaking some 800 languages. The nation also currently has two men acting as governor general and two opposing police chiefs.
Governor General Michael Ogio swore in veteran premier Somare's government on Wednesday, but hours later O'Neill suspended Ogio and replaced him with a new appointee who then swore him in.
An AFP photographer said around 400 people were outside the parliament waving banners and chanting, demanding Somare step aside and allow O'Neill to rule. The protest was peaceful, overseen by a large police presence.
The standoff is the country's worst constitutional crisis since it gained independence in 1975, with bureaucrats unsure of who they are meant to be working for.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth is head of state of PNG, a Commonwealth country, and the governor general is her representative. This means she is technically one of the few people who could have authority to break the deadlock. But constitutional law experts said it was unlikely she would step in.
"It's very unlikely. As head of state she must act on the advice of the nominated authority, in this case parliament," Anthony Regan, a law expert at the Australian National University, told AFP. "Until she knows which is the authorised civilian government, she can't act."
The queen, who is also the head of state of several far – flung Pacific nations including the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, rarely weighs into constitutional crises.
Paul Barker, from the Institute of National Affairs in Port Moresby, said church groups – a powerful force in PNG – and other civil society leaders were seeking a compromise in the escalating crisis.
"They are trying to get the two leaders to sit down together and consider the national interest," he told AFP. "They want them to reconcile and work towards some sort of caretaker government that can take the country through to elections next year."
He said he had been told the O'Neill faction was willing to engage and compromise, but the Somare side was less enthusiastic.
So far, the nation's military has remained mostly silent. Defence force chief Brigadier General Francis Agwi said on Wednesday the army does not want a political role.
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