Australians to deploy police to Papua New Guinea
Australians to deploy police to Papua New Guinea
Neil Sands, Agence France-Presse, Sydney, Australia
Australia announced plans to send hundreds of police to restore order in Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Thursday but denied interfering in the internal affairs of its troubled former colony.
Prime Minister John Howard hinted Canberra's A$300 million (US$198 million) a year aid package would be cut if PNG resisted the policing plan, comments likely to further inflame Port Moresby officials already bristling at Australia's criticism of widespread corruption.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer met PNG Prime Minister Michael Somare on Thursday to outline Canberra's new hands-on approach to dealing with lawlessness and corruption in PNG.
The pair signed a pact that paves the way for Australia to increase its role in the Pacific nation, including the deployment of hundreds of police.
Downer said reports estimating 200 Australian Federal Police would be deployed were probably conservative.
"When you start to think that if we were to provide people to help in everything from technical assistance to training to forensics, perhaps out on the provincial centers assisting with policing there, 200 could be quite a low number," Downer told reporters.
"Two hundred doesn't stretch so far when you stop and think about it."
He said Australian police would be in Port Moresby "as soon as possible", most likely by January.
The initiative comes after Australia led a 2,000-strong force into the Solomon Islands in July to restore order, fearing failing states in the region could become havens for terrorists and international gangsters.
PNG was described as on the brink of anarchy by Mike Manning of the Port Moresby-based Institute of National Affairs earlier this year.
He described a country where living standards were falling, despite vast natural resources, due to entrenched corruption and mismanagement.
The capital, Port Moresby, is regularly ranked as one of the world's most dangerous cities, where armed gangs contribute to runaway violent crime, forcing expatriates to live in razor-wire compounds.
Howard said the policing plan was a case of Australia helping its former colony, which celebrated 28 years of independence this week.
"When you help people, you're not interfering," Howard said.
Howard repeated his position that Australian aid was dependent on improvements in governance and financial accountability.
"That policy is well known, it's a prudent policy and I'm sure that we can work our way through these things with our friends in Port Moresby," he said.
Under the deal, Australia is expected to send in "flying squads" of auditors and administrators to stabilize the PNG budget and ensure aid gets to the people who most need it.
The opposition warned Australia against overstretching its police force, pointing out PNG, with a population of five million -- 10 times that of the Solomons -- would be a far larger challenge than the mission to Solomons.
"When it comes to taking on another regional security responsibility, a wise course of action would be to wait a bit, bed the Solomon Islands down first and then see what's possible to do in PNG," opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said.
Somare, who led PNG to independence in 1975, was initially so incensed about Australian criticism of corruption that he withdrew Downer's invitation to the talks in Port Moresby before relenting last week.
Rudd urged Downer, who on Wednesday said PNG was lucky to have a neighbor like Australia, to be more diplomatic in his relations with Port Moresby officials.
"At the end of the day, Australia still has to have a good relationship with PNG, our nearest neighbor," he said.
Downer denied Australia was taking a heavy-handed approach.
"We put forward proposals, they agree -- no one is telling anyone what they have to do," he said.