Voting to open in PNG's trouble spots
Voting to open in PNG's trouble spots
PORT MORESBY (AFP): Security forces steeled themselves for the
start of voting today in Papua New Guinea's trouble spots after
the two-week national ballot had a low-key and peaceful start at
the weekend.
"There have been no major incidents and we hope it stays like
that," Central province regional police commander Fred Sheekiot
said yesterday.
"Should anything arise, there are enough policemen on the
ground to handle it," he told AFP.
Security forces have been on high alert in the run-up to the
election, which comes three months after a political crisis that
saw looting and riots in the capital and angry demonstrations
outside parliament.
Accompanied by a huge security presence, polling teams will
set up today in the capital Port Moresby, the volatile Western
Highlands region and the rebel stronghold of South Bougainville.
About 500 police will guard polling booths in this
southwestern Pacific nation's capital, where police chief Sam
Inguba has reportedly warned criminals are holding "substantial"
amounts of illegal guns and ammunition.
Despite the civil war that has raged on Bougainville for nine
years, an Electoral Commission spokesman said yesterday that
voting would go ahead there, defying calls from the Bougainville
Revolutionary Army for a boycott.
The ballot is to be held in government "care centers", set up
to house villagers displaced by the fighting which began nine
years ago over royalties from the giant Panguna copper mine.
When Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan came to power he vowed to
end the civil war, but his decision to hire British-based
mercenary group Sandline International to do the job nearly cost
him his leadership.
After a week of chaos in Port Moresby, he was forced to stand
aside while an official inquiry investigated the deal,
subsequently clearing him of any wrongdoing.
In the rugged Highlands, about 1,000 police and 450 soldiers
have been deployed to prevent a repeat of violence which has
occurred there in past elections.
About 500 police and soldiers marched through the regional
capital of Mount Hagan Friday in a show of force designed to
deter troublemakers and inspire voter confidence.
Voting began peacefully Saturday with nearly 60 polling teams
operating mobile polling booths in Central province, which covers
a thin strip along the nation's south coast surrounding Port
Moresby.
"It's been a quiet start," said presiding officer Tabu Vaira,
whose team had set up underneath a mango tree in a settlement
nestled in the mountains that ring Port Moresby.
He said he had no security concerns, and that his biggest
problem had been turning away voters whose names did not appear
on the electoral roll.