As the 2012 elections are fast approaching, I would like to once again appeal to serial general election candidates and recycled leaders not to politicise the issue at the expense of the Bulolo ethnic clash.
There are opportunists who use pen names in letters to the editor or on the ground, taking sides with either party of the conflicting groups, playing the blame game or publishing more unfounded accusations.
I see these cannot help the affected and the vulnerable ones on ground zero.
When the election writs are delivered by the Governor General in April to July 2012, then we all can play the political game.
Today's situation demands common sense from all walks of life to help in any way possible.
Morobe governor Luther Wenge and myself may have not done enough, but when we all come to properly analyse the situation, we will find that there are so many contributing factors that has led to the re-emergence of the situation.
Law and order, lack of funding, slowness of the provincial law and order committee meeting, disappearance of the uncertified report by the Wau urban LLG manager, police not enforcing the full force of the law on both sides of the conflicting parties, lifting of the liquor ban by the magistrate at the request of the liquor traders and worst of all politicking of this unfortunate issue.
The office that I hold is not a private business that I own.
It is a public office, therefore, every aspiring or recycled politician has every right under the sun to contest or recontest.
I will not run away with this office.
It belongs to the people and the people themselves will decide who will be their next political leader.
The time will come when we all will hit the polls.
I appeal to all people not to unnecessarily accuse or point fingers anymore.
Let us all work together and leave the politics for the right time as guranteed for under the Constitution.
In light of the recent upraising ethnic clash in my district last week, I would like to appeal to all parties from the local tribes and the Sepik settlers to lay down their arms and allow for the national government led team under chief secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc to negotiate a way forward.
I appeal to all politicians from Morobe including the Morobe Governor to support in any way possible and to closely work together with all the stake holders on the ground, including police and national government team, to find a way forward.
By addressing the conflicting parties separately will only send different messages which can hamper the efforts of the other negotiating parties such as police, national government, district administration and the other stake holders.
I would also like to appeal to provincial treasurer, provincial administrator and the governor to work together in this time of need.
Morobe Province is hard hit by the rise of cholera in Tewai Siassi electorate while ethnic clashes have taken their toll in Tewai Siassi, Finschhafen and Bulolo districts with the loss of lives.
The accusations of misapplication of funds from the administration against governor are not a new thing it has been brought to light by different administrators in the past.
The issue continues to surface again, therefore, relevant authorities must step in to intervene against those claims because the last thing we want happening is to see total chaos in the Morobe administration in this time of need.
My district administration has spent over K100, 000 for voluntary repatriation, care centre rations, police and administration and has advised the Morobe provincial government through the then chairman of the provincial law and order committee Benson Suwang to carry on from there.
The governor has given his assurance and support to continue from where I left, while the committee will find a way forward to deal with the genuine settlers.
The provincial government came short, but I cannot blame them here, as we all understand that the administration does have some serious cash flow problems, as recently highlighted by the provincial treasurer.
The recent clash was liquor related and I call on provincial government lawyers to deal with the matter forthwith to bring back the ban.
Numerous concerns were raised when the ban was lifted by the liquor operators in the district.
The liquor outlet operators must now choose between the lives of innocent people and their profit driven motives.
This is not the first time they have challenged the liquor ban in the district as they have done so since the Watut/Biangai conflict in 2009.
There was also another delay caused by the Wau Bulolo urban manager, who was given the task by the law and order committee to furnish a report for the committee to present to the provincial government, quantifying the damages and other factors that had contributed to the ethnic clashes.
The Wau Bulolo urban manager has since disappeared into Port Moresby with the report, which has practically stopped the provincial law and order committee to pursue its cause in advising the provincial administration and relevant aid organisations such as Red Cross, AusAID and others who only rely on official report and confirmations before their engagement.
With the high level investigation team being sent from the police headquarters and the disappearance of the Wau Urban manager with the report to Waigani swamp, this can only mean that this situation of Bulolo has been politicised.
I am now appealing to the government especially the Prime Minister Sir Michael that if those orders came from him, then we have to put our differences aside, and deal with the people - especially the suffering and the displaced mothers, children and elderly people.
I commend the latest initiatives by the Prime Minister's Department through chief secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc to have sent a team to the ground last week under instructions from the Prime Minister.
I look forward for their advice and assistance and as my joint district planning and budget priorities committee is ready to step in by redirecting programme funds should urgent needs arise.
I appeal to the chief secretary and the provincial administrator to help locate the Wau Bulolo urban manager in Waigani and send him back into Wau with the uncertified report to the Morobe administration.
The urban LLG office and the market has been locked since his absenteeism and the Wau culverting programme is about to commence, for which we need him on the ground to assist.
I would also like to convey our thankyou and gratitude on behalf of the affected people to various business houses in Lae together with Morobe Mining Joint Ventures and PNG Forest Products for their help in donations in keeping the care centre up until the recent incident.
Your timely help and assistance will go along way of us knowing that you all do care for us the people of Bulolo and Morobe in such a difficult time.
Should the care centre situation stabilise, your continued assistance will be welcomed by all, and in particular I as political head of the affected district appeal for your continued support.
Now that the national government through the Prime Minister's Department is taking the lead on this issue, my support is there and ready for the next course of action upon the advice and support from Waigani.
The name sounds quirky but Tanglefoot may
be the answer to coffee farmers’ woes against the coffee green scale pest.
Coffee green scales
Tanglefoot is a jelly-like substance that
stops the movement of ants up and down
coffee trees.
It is non-poisonous to ants, other
organisms and humans.
Pasting Tanglefoot on the tree stump near
the base effectively prevents the ants from climbing up and down the tree accessing
aerial parts of the crop.
Applying tanglefoot to
coffee tree stump to prevent ants climbing
Coffee green
scales are currently the most-serious pest affecting the coffee industry in Papua New Guinea.
They are soft
scale insects.
They are
oval-shaped, flat and pale green in colour.
Green scales are
often associated with ants and ‘sooty mould’ fungus.
The ants and
fungus feed on the honeydew excreted by the scales.
The scales suck
the sap of mature and young coffee trees, reducing growth and eventually causing
the death of the tree.
The presence of ants
also provides protection for the scales from their natural enemies, like
ladybird beetles and parasitic wasps.
Trials conducted at the Coffee Industry Corporation
research station on using Tanglefoot in controlling green scales are encouraging.
The length of time to achieve complete
control is three months.
Control takes longer compared to recommended
conventional methods of spraying and pruning that provide fast knockdown
effect.
Tanglefoot, unlike conventional methods, poses
no risks to the natural coffee environment and promotes sustainable control of
the pest.
Following are important points to consider in
order to attain such level of control:
Tanglefoot needs to be adequately applied around the stump with 10-15
cm width and layer thick enough to avoid quick drying; and
Arial canopy of the tree must be independently stand-alone. This
means branches must not come in contact with branches of adjacent trees,
particularly the infested trees, to avoid ant access from these trees.
Tanglefoot
Manufactured in the United States of America, Tanglefoot
is not new in PNG, but new for the coffee industry.
In the 1930s, Tanglefoot was trialed on
coconut trees in Manus province to prevent coconut treehoppers. Climatological
conditions in that coastal island province deteriorated the use of Tanglefoot
but may prove otherwise for coffee, especially for farmers in the cooler Highlands provinces where green scales are rife.
Tanglefoot can be purchased from leading
agricultural suppliers.
MORE than 400
Sepiks, employed by the PNG Forest Products (PNGFP) in Bulolo, Morobe, have
resigned en masse out of fear for their lives, The National reports.
Other Sepiks
working in the local bank, post office and schools and the nearby mine are also
expected to leave, causing losses to companies and affecting government
services.
Locals from Bulolo in Morobe, armed with
bush knives, axes, bows and arrows, with a placard calling for the complete
removal of Sepiks from the township yesterday. Tension is still high in the
area.
The 400 Sepiks at
PNGFP have submitted their names to their workers union president, Moses
Tikiong, and general secretary Albert Kaklep to take the matter up with the
management for payout.
The Sepiks gathered
at the HuxleyStreetPlaySchool yesterday at noon
while their leaders met with district authorities to discuss their future.
Kaklep later met
with Sepik leader Nelson Bito and relayed the
message to the people.
The fate of 12
others employed by Morobe Mining Joint Ventures is not clear yesterday.
Some of the 12 have
been living with their families at the care centres while others lost their
homes in the recent unrest.
The employees of
PNGFP made it clear to the company management their decision to leave was due
to the current unrest and the threats to the lives of their families and
themselves.
District
administrator Nimsen Kibisep travelled to Port
Moresby yesterday to take the matter up with
government secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc.
He would also seek
funds for the repatriation exercise.
Bito said three
venues for their temporary resettlement were discussed – the Lae show grounds,
Wawin in the MarkhamValley or a venue to be
identified by the Lutheran church.
Kibisep predicted a
decline in government services in the district if the entire Sepik
community were to leave.
BuloloUniversityForestryCollege principal Tommy Nahuet expressed similar
sentiments, saying the campus might have to be relocated to Lae. Both men are
from West and East Sepik respectively.
Bank South Pacific
relieving branch manageress Linda Maron said eight employees at the bank were
Sepiks and they were also affected.
The bank’s acting
Momase chief security officer, Igag Woktamoi, closed the bank for an indefinite
period as of yesterday.
BSP is the only
bank in Bulolo and its customers will now have to travel to Lae to do their
banking.
Post PNG branch
manager Duna Mara said yesterday they would soon shut operations.
Meanwhile, locals
yesterday said they were happy to see the Sepiks go but the government must
ensure the repatriation was definite.
“We will stay here
until they leave because the authorities did not play their part which led to
another unrest,” the locals said.
RAMU NiCo, the manager of Ramu nickel joint venture, will consider laying off workers at its nickel and cobalt operations in Madang following yesterday’s National Court refusal to lift the interim injunction preventing the construction of its offshore component of the deep sea tailings placement (DSTP) system, The National reports.
More than 3,000 people in the province depended on the US$1.4 billion project which is nearing the end of its construction phase.
They included about 1,200 Papua New Guinean workers at the Kurumbukari mine site in Usino-Bundi, the refinery site at Basamuk in the RaiCoast and the Madang head office.
They stand to lose their jobs.
And, in a further blow, the forced stopwork at the mine will slash economic growth forecast for this year.
Government officials said yesterday the GDP growth target of 8.5% this year would be downgraded to 7.1%, a massive drop which could have a negative effect on PNG as an investment destination.
The slow down in the PNG LNG project was also going to have some impact on economic growth forecasts, they said.
Ramu NiCo said their first option though would be to urgently appeal yesterday’s decision to the Supreme Court.
An “extremely disappointed” Ramu NiCo said in a statement it had already lost millions of kina since the injunction was granted in March.
In an earlier pre-trial hearing, Ramu NiCo had told the court that damages suffered since the injunction was granted included K2.05 milllion in direct expenses, K360,000 a day in interest to banks and K1.3 million a day in cost to DSTP contractors.
It said it had suffered financial losses for which it could not possibly be compensated.
Ramu NiCo had sought to lift the injunction by five Basamuk plaintiffs to allow it to finish construction before the advent of the rainy season and had undertaken not to dispose of tailings through the pipeline without the court’s approval.
It said that up to June 30, it had spent US$1.2 billion out of the total development cost of US$1.4 billion for the project, which was scheduled to start trial operation by October.
Ramu NiCo said that given that it was unlikely that the DSTP would be completed before the rainy season, significant delays to the project construction and operational schedule was now unavoidable.
It said it had to fully assess the impact and amend the construction and operational timetable accordingly.
“As the construction is winding down and most of the equipment has been installed, one real option is to now place the project on a ‘care and maintenance’ basis, postpone the operational preparation works and adopt retrenchment measures, even though this would be devastating for our workers and their dependents and for the landowners, other community members and business partners.
“Given this, Ramu NiCo will do everything it reasonably can to minimise the losses.
“Ramu NiCo will also discuss the present situation with project stakeholders, including Highlands Pacific Limited, the government and landowners, before taking further actions,” it said.
NATIONAL Court judge David Cannings opted for “a safety first approach” yesterday when he refused to grant an application by Ramu NiCo to lift the interim court injunction he had granted in March to stop offshore construction of the deep sea tailings placement (DSTP) system, The Nationalreports,
Instead, he extended the injunction until Dec 21, the trial date for the substantive case by five Basamuk plaintiffs – Eddie Tarsie, Farina Siga, Peter Sel, Sama Melambo and Pommern Inc Land Group.
Cannings ruled that there was no material change in circumstances, as was sought by Ramu NiCo which had also failed to provide sufficiently evidence to prove that the trial was delayed due to failure on the plaintiffs’ part.
The March injunction meant that all preparatory or construction work on DSTP system had stopped, including all and any damage or disturbance either directly or indirectly to the offshore environment such as coral blasting, popping of dead or live coral and laying of pipes pending the substantive hearing.
Cannings said he was not convinced that waste would not be discharged into the seas if construction of the DSTP was allowed to proceed pending the substantive hearing.
Happy
birthday to my beloved wife and our Mum, Hula Debe Nalu, who would have
turned 34 today, but left us so alone and tragically on Easter Sunday,
March 23, 2008.
Memories of the time we have spent together will be cherished forever.
With never-ending love from Malum and our four young children Malum Jr (9), Gedi (8), Moasing (6) and Keith (3).
Do not stand at my grave and weep,I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you wake in the morning hush,I am the swift, uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circling flight.
Women
in Kutubu, Southern Highlands, have all the
reason to smile as they now own two rice milling machines to boost local
production.
History
was made last Friday when the first gains of white rice poured out of one of
the brand new machines during the launch at Pimaga government station under the
watchful eyes of over 2,000 farmers, mostly women from Foe, Faso and Moran
areas.
Oil Search Ltd
community affairs officer Paul Sapake (right) and Kutubu Foe Women's
Association president Naomi Samuel cutting the ribbon to officially launch two
rice milling machines at Pimaga in Kutubu.-Pictures
by SENIORL ANZU
Oil
Search Ltd, a resource developer in the oil and gas rich Southern
Highlands province, handed over the two machines to the local
women.
Interest
for local rice production had gained momentum after the Kutubu Foe Women’s
Association (KFWA) started planting rice from upland rice seeds which they
received from NARI Lae in 2008 during the launch of the PNG Women in
Agriculture Development Foundation (PNGDiADF).
In the last few years, more farmers joined to
farm rice, including members of the Namoi Namo Women’s Association (Faso) and
Moran Women’s Association.
However,
a major hurdle was the lack of milling facilities which prompted KFWA, a member
of the PNGWiADF, to seek support from possible avenues.
Through
the PNGWiADF, the Department of Agriculture and Livestock provided a huge Satake
rice milling machine, valued between K30-40, 000, to KFWA.
OSLdonated
another machine, a micro-mill, worth more than K7, 000.
First
dish of milled rice pouring out of a brand new micro-mill at Pimaga in Kutubu
last Friday from upland farming by women farmers from Foe, Faso and Moran areas
OSL
facilitated the transportation of both machines to Kutubu.
The
oil and gas developer, in partnership with Moro-based NGO, Community
Development Initiative Foundation, also sourced resource people from NARI and
PNGWiADF from Lae and ChristianLeadersTrainingCollege in Banz to train
interested rice farmers on field production and milling.
This
training was conducted last week for more than 100 interested rice farmers.
During
the launch, Kosi Sosoro, chairman of Kawaso Ltd, who witnessed the event,
presented K2, 000 each to the three women’s
associations from Kutubu.
OSL
community affairs officers, Paul Sapake and Marc Mulungu, commended the Foe
women for taking the initiative to venture into rice production.
Accolades
also came from CDI-Moro manager Peter John, PNGWiADF president Maria Linibi and
Dr Peter Gendua of NARI.
KFWA
president Naomi Samuel said sago, which took 15-20 years to grow, had been
their staple food all their lives.
She
said the process of extracting sago was laborious and performed mostly by
women, hence, her group had opted for rice to shorten food maturity period and
also supplement household food intake.
Samuel
said the group was aiming to produce large volumes of rice to supply to
catering companies in the project areas.
She
called on mothers from Faso and Moran to cultivate rice and mill them using the
two machines.
The
historical occasion was witnessed by representatives from Esso Highlands,
landowner companies, government representatives, community leaders, NGOs,
school children and farmers.
The
realignment of agricultural extension systems such as the Smallholder Support
Services Expansion Project (SSSEP) with the National Agriculture Development
Plan (NADP), DSP 2030 and Vision 2050 will further strengthen and boost
agriculture productivity and development.
Department
of Agriculture and Livestock deputy secretary for technical services, Francis
Daink, said this in Lae when opening the SSSEP Inception Workshop today.
Delegates from Eastern Highlands provincial administration and SSCF Unit
discuss their strategy before the workshop.-Pictures by JOY WOKTAMUL, SSCF
Unit, Lae
Daink
called on all the stakeholders involved with the SSSEP and in the realignment
process to work closely to achieve these objectives.
He
said this was a government direction that needed to be carried out and urged
all partners to make positive contributions.
One
of the pillars in the Vision 2050 relates to wealth creation focusing on
amongst other renewable resources, the agriculture sector, whilst DSP 2030
considered agriculture as one of the important sectoral strategies through
economic corridors concept and NADP based its key programmes on enhanced
productivity, research and extension, food and nutrition security,
agro-forestry, human capacity and information improvement.
The
SSSEP concept now being introduced into two new provinces, Central and Chimbu,
looks at research and extension for development, innovations, human capacity
development and others.
Daink
told the workshop participants that their positive and valued contributions
would assist in ensuring that the realignment process would bring good results
for the SSSEP so that it was successfully implemented in the provinces.
Morobe province’s deputy administrator for
corporate affairs, Geoving Bilong, said the SSSEP concept, trialed in Morobe
and Eastern Highlands provinces could be
successfully introduced and implemented into the current delivery of extension
services.
He
said the concept had been successful in these provinces and believed that it
could also improve extension services in Central and Chimbu provinces.
He said in Morobe, many farmers who went through
the pilot phase of SSSEP said that it had had a positive impact in their
livelihoods.
Bilong
said due to its overwhelming success, the SSSEP should be extended to other
provinces. He thanked the New
Zealand government through NZAID for
contributing over K3 million for the expansion phase.
The
Lae workshop was attended by officers from Morobe, Eastern
Highlands, Chimbu, Central, Department of Agriculture and Livestock,
Department of National Planning and Monitoring and NZAID.
Smallholder
Support Contract Facility staff from Morobe, Eastern Highlands and project
coordination unit in Port Moresby
facilitated the two-day workshop.
The
issues discussed included the implementation approach, implementation schedule,
logical framework, monitoring, and status of inception report, management
information systems, service provider associations, and gender
mainstreaming.
A
10-year strategic plan is to be launched as part of the government’s efforts to
combat the spread of the cocoa pod borer (CPB) infestation in the country.
Relevant
government agencies will work closely with the private sector, provinces,
industry groups and farmers to implement the strategic plan as from this year.
A
concerted effort by all stakeholders including adequate funding is vital to
make the plan work, as the government is determined to boost cocoa production
to 100,000 tonnes by the year 2015.
Despite the spread of CPB, the industry has
achieved a new record in production of 59,350 tonnes for the 2008/9 cocoa year.
CPB
was first reported in East New Britain province
in 2006 and has since been detected and confirmed in seven cocoa-growing
provinces.
The latest confirmation is from BaluanIsland
in Manus province.
At
the same time cocoa is making inroads into the highlands region with new
plantings in Simbu and Western Highlands provinces.
The
plan was revealed at a recent meeting of the national CPB steering committee
held in Port Moresby.
Officials
from the Cocoa Board, PNG Cocoa Coconut Institute, Department of Agriculture
and Livestock, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, East New Britain, Madang, New Ireland, and two companies, Agmark Pacific Ltd and
Monpi Cocoa Exports attended the meeting.
Provincial
representatives in particular were happy with the news saying that more positive
action with funding and resources were needed to tackle the CPB problem.
Cocoa
Board acting chief executive Lauatu Tautea said the plan would involve the
active promotion, facilitation and the adoption of CPB management practices
including the integrated pest and disease management (IPDM) technology as a way
of reducing CPB infestation and sustaining cocoa production.
The
strategy will include training and awareness on the CPB management technology,
provision of essential tools and chemicals.
He
said the support of stakeholders including private companies and service
providers was essential in the overall success of the plan.
“Of
paramount importance is the sustainability of the project which is anticipated
to be achieved through training as well as from farmer support activities,”
Tautea said.
“Adoption
of good practices by cocoa farmers in growing, producing and processing of
cocoa at the end of the day is most important.”
Tautea
said that if CPB was not contained and managed effectively it would result in
huge economic losses which would give rise to other social problems.
Officials
from the provinces were happy with the news and requested that funding be made
available quickly for the programme to commence.
Private
sector representatives said it was a positive move by the government and
stressed that they were ready to work closely with key agencies to fight the
CPB problem.
They said the private sector was already
working with cocoa farmers in areas such as setting up of nurseries and
conducting farmer training.
It is great news to hear that the National AIDS Council Secretariat Director Wep Kanawi has announced a new approach to AIDS awareness in this country.
Counsellors are to go out to give awareness talks under trees and after church.
AIDS Holistics has been doing that for many years.
We have even adopted a church and helped them with their present slogan “strongim family”.
The tide is turning against foreign donor organisations that go out into the provinces to run four-day seminars to selected people and live in the hotel room
of the top hotel in the town.
People come for the lunch.
The pressure is now on the message given out.
No more can foreigners talk on rights and no responsibilities.
A church will make sure there is appropriate focus on family.
No more focus only on condoms.
It is good that Messrs Hopley and Collins of PACE are back to talk about paedophiles disguised as tourists coming to seek sex with children in the Pacific.
They will come disguised as AIDS advisors.
UNICEF says that children have the right of association.
That means their parents cannot stop sons and daughters from having sex with paedophiles.
Many foreign advisors will never go out to sit under trees and talk.
Miner to acquire high-margin, one-gold asset, says Gaurnaut
By PATRICK TALU
THE merger between Lihir Gold Ltd (LGL) and the Australian gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd (Newcrest) will create a A$25 billion (K60 billion) company with portfolio of a long-term high margin and a tier one gold asset, LGL chairman Dr Ross Garnaut said yesterday, The National reports.
The merger agreement was finally signed yesterday in a special meeting among shareholders in Port Moresby for the proposed merger through a scheme of arrangement (SOA) announced last May.
LGL shareholders overwhelmingly approved through a secret ballot the merger during the meeting.
They approved the SOA with 99.86% of the total number of votes cast at the meeting, exceeding the required majority of 75% as ordered by the Waigani national court.
The final hurdle for the merger is approval of the scheme by the national court with the hearing scheduled on Friday.
If approved, the scheme will become effective Aug 30 and is scheduled to be carried out on Sept 13.
“Through merger with Newcrest, we can immediately deliver strong returns to our shareholders with certainty, while simultaneously achieving greater diversification, reducing costs and improving our risk profile,” Garnaut said.
“For the local communities where we operate, they can be assured that Newcrest has an excellent track record as a good corporate citizen, committed to delivering on its promises, sharing the benefits of its mining projects equitably, and operating in a way that is sensitive to diverse cultural needs and practices,” he said.
Gaurnaut said that Lihir mining project had played a special role in the development of the country’s mining industry and economy.
“It has demonstrated that with careful management and close co-operation with communities and governments, large-scale mining in PNG is consistent with exemplary outcomes for relations with communities and governments and for the environment,” he said.
“Newcrest’s commitment of more than US$10 billion (K27.25 billion), mostly for the LihirIsland asset, is a large vote of confidence in the PNG investment environment.”
Garnaut stressed the Lihir operation would continue to generate wealth and enhance society in the region for a long time to come.
“We expect high profitability will make the Lihir operations the second largest taxpayer in PNG next year.
“We have started paying sustainable dividends to shareholders.”
Newcrest chairman Don Mercer said the merger would create one of the world’s great gold mining companies with an outstanding platform to deliver superior returns to shareholders.
“The combination of Newcrest and LGL will create a world class portfolio of high quality operating mines and growth opportunities capable of delivering long term, sustainable production growth within the lowest cost quartile of the global industry,” Mercer said.
EMBATTLED Sepik settlers in Bulolo are blaming the Morobe government of being slow in repatriating them, The National reports.
Their statement followed the killing of two young Sepiks, who were believed to be from the care centre, at the Saksak settlement and the severe wounding of 12 men by locals on Sunday.
The toll included 10 homes which were also razed by locals at Saksak, Jinker Road and New Camp.
The 12 critically wounded men have been rushed to Lae for intensive care at the AngauMemorialHospital.
As the situation worsened with all schools, shops and the bank closed, locals were entering Bulolo with guns, bows and arrows and knives to join forces at the town market while the 32 policemen try their best to contain the situation.
Fears of fighting have forced all transport operators off the roads.
Residents in Wau last night said all shops were without food and the Morobe Mining JV, developer of the HiddenValley gold mine, had not made any freight runs since Sunday.
Several Sepiks in Bulolo said people at the care centre wanted to leave, but the provincial government had not helped the district to repatriate them.
The plea was an about-turn by the Sepiks who, up until last Friday, had demanded the Morobe and national governments to find land in and around Bulolo to resettle them.
“They were so staunch in their demands that they went out and attacked local villagers panning for gold in the BuloloRiver – both as a revenge for the April attacks and as a sign that this was as much their home as it was the Morobeans,” a PNG Forest Product employee said.
More than 2,000 Sepiks are now camped in the care centre at the PNG Forest Products premises, with very little to survive on. They had no clothes, no food and medicine.
The rations ran severely low yesterday.
On Sunday afternoon, locals from Bulolo camped at the town market.
Residents said the number of locals was rising every evening, with people coming in from the villages with bows and arrows, bush knives and axes.
Police also reported that they had proof from ballistics that the locals had “a number of sophisticated rifles”.
More than 30 policemen were stationed in Bulolo with reinforcements expected in from Port Moresby and Goroka today.
The police themselves have been burdened with logistical support. They have not been paid their previous three-month allowances.
Last weekend’s 21-day operational call had also not been paid.
The policemen are paying for meals out of their own pockets.
“What is worse, they are paying for calls to police headquarters using their own units on their mobile phones,” an observer said.
The police also suffered at the hands of the locals.
A resident policeman was stripped of his uniforms and his house cleaned of all its items yesterday.
INTERNATIONAL consultants on child abuse and sexual exploitation have warned Papua New Guineans to be cautious of child sex tourists, The National reports.
These are people who target specific countries and travel under the guise of tourists but with the intention of sexually exploiting young girls and children.
Carl Collins and Ian Hopley, during a joint presentation at a one-day seminar addressing child abuse and sexual exploitation, said PNG had the potential of being a target for child sex tourists because of problems with enforcing laws, widespread corruption and poverty where money does the talking.
Hopley said commercial sex was rampant in Pacific countries, including PNG, and the country had to be aware of how the perpetrators operated to safeguard their women and children from being exploited.
“Many of these tourists are now targeting countries in the Pacific because other countries have introduced extra territorial legislation,” he said, adding that the legislation was introduced to safeguard women and children from these perpetrators.
Collins said sex tourists were mainly paedophiles or preferential child molesters who visited selected countries for the wrong reasons and to sexually exploit young girls and children.
Hopley said with reports of high child prostitution being experienced in PNG and an increase in commercial sex trade, the boom in the mineral, fishery and logging industries could also attract sex tourists.
However, he said this would happen on a few occasions as a majority of the sexual abuse on children in PNG would be carried out by Papua New Guineans.
“Foreigners arrested in the Pacific should, wherever possible, be charged with the relevant offences under the local laws and dealt with in the country where the offence occurred.
“In this way, it will sent out a warning to sex tourist that they are not welcomed here,” Hopley said.
CONTINUED threats and interruptions to early works on the multi-billion-kina liquefied natural gas (LNG) project will have a detrimental effect on the project schedule, The National reports.
ExxonMobil, operator of the K40 billion project, yesterday expressed grave concerns after various landowners threatened to stop early works.
Others had forced early works at Hides and Komo to stop for three weeks.
The latest threat came from Papa landowners from portion 152 in Central where the proposed conditioning plant and jetties would be built. They wanted the developer to give them the contract to build the jetty.
“The project is the biggest single investment in the petroleum sector and PNG cannot afford to lose it.
“We have schedule for our first shipment by 2014 and such a threat will have a detrimental effect on our project schedule,” a spokesman for ExxonMobil told The National.
“We have three years to complete the respective phases of the project before our first LNG shipment.
“We cannot afford to lose time. It is going to cost PNG and ExxonMobil.
“As a borrower, we are answerable to financiers who loaned us to fund this massive project,” the spokesman said.
He said this year was just wasted dealing with landowners’ issues, which were not expected.
“The recent activities by these so-called landowners are uncalled for and are illegal.”
Meanwhile, ExxonMobil and Chiyoda JGC joint venture yesterday denied a report in The National last week that 5,000 Indonesian skilled workers would be brought in to work at portion 152.
The report was based on an announcement by an Indonesian embassy official.
A senior manager for Chiyoda said: “The article is incorrect.
“There is no contractor who can supply so many Indonesian workers.”
