Papua New Guinea in crisis with two PMs, two police chiefs

Papua New Guinea plunged into a constitutional crisis yesterday as Peter O’Neill, rejecting a Supreme Court ruling that removed him as prime minister, occupied the government benches in Parliament and broke though a police barricade at the Governor-General’s residence.

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said PNG had entered uncharted waters since Monday’s Supreme Court split ruling that reinstated Michael Somare and prompted armed police to stand guard at the vice-regal residence in Port Moresby .

About 60 MPs loyal to O’Neill stormed past the police at the gates of Government House yesterday and insisted on a meeting with Governor-General Michael Oglio.

“We are unarmed and we’re the legitimate government,” they chanted, according to the ABC.

Standing at the gates of Government House, O’Neill declared: “As Parliament speaks today, I am the prime minister of the country, and Somare is trying to hijack it with some hooligan policemen.”

Some of the police guarding Government House are loyal to Somare. One of his first acts when the court ordered he return to government was to reinstate former Police Commissioner Fred Yakasa and oust O’Neill’s appointee Tom Kulunga.

O’Neill said Oglio had met with him briefly yesterday and said he had agreed to meet Somare, the founding father of PNG and known as the grand chief, today.

‘Best way forward‘
“I cannot discuss the details of that meeting because he has to afford the same level of courtesy to the grand chief,” O’Neill said.

“He will meet with the grand chief tomorrow. He will then write to both of us and express his decision on the best way to move forward.”

Shots were fired outside Government House on Monday night, and yesterday O’Neill’s treasurer Don Polye urged the MPs to be peaceful amid a heavily armed police presence.

“We must sit. There is no need for shooting. I urge you all to sit down and be peaceful,” Polye said.

Somare is understood to be at the popular Ela Beach Hotel in Port Moresby, where he has set up cabinet made up mostly of ministers from his previous government. Somarel’s daughter Betha told the news agency Agence-France Presse that her father had made it to Government House and been sworn in, although this could not be confirmed elsewhere.

“The PM has already gone into Government House and he’s already signed off on the instruments recognising Sir Michael as prime minister,” she said.

But she added that his ministers had been prevented from joining him after O’Neill and dozens of his MPs blockaded the building.

“What’s happening at the gates of Government House is that the government, or the rogues that were ousted, have blocked off the Government House gates,” she said. “So the people that are supposed to be sworn in cannot be sworn in.”

Legal advice
Ogio was seeking legal advice yesterday, including from private lawyers, before deciding which claimant to swear in.

Sir Michael Ogio – appointed Governor-General this year when Sir Michael was unquestionably the prime minister – swore in O’Neill at the August 2 parliamentary sitting that elected him after Speaker Jeffery Nape ruled that the top office was vacant.

At that stage, Sir Michael – who has run the country for almost half of its 36 years of independence – had been away in Singapore for four months undergoing medical treatment.

The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Salamo Injia ruled by 3-2 on Monday that the prime ministership was not vacant, since Sir Michael had neither resigned nor been ruled medically unfit to govern.

Sir Michael, 75, yesterday denied his health would prevent him from returning to office.

“My doctor in Singapore believes that my health is as good as any. I’m well enough to be a 40 year old again,” he told the ABC.

Somare’s claim to the prime ministership rests with the 3-2 ruling. O’Neill’s claim rests with his re-election yesterday by Parliament, 69-0, following the judgment.

Emergency sitting
Nape said during the emergency parliamentary sitting that he would only recognise the government of O’Neill, whose MPs refused to vacate the government’s side of the chamber. Adding to the chaos yesterday, the rivals pushed ahead with appointments, leaving the country with two cabinets and two police chiefs.

The police, divided between O’Neill’s commissioner, Kulunga, and Somarel’s new appointment, Yakasa, were playing a key role in choosing which group could gain access to key institutions of state and, most importantly, to the Governor-General.

The armed police outside the Governor-General’s residence were loyal to Somare, the ABC reported.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd told ABC radio from New York he was “deeply concerned” about the situation in the former Australian mandate.

“Obviously there are heightened political intentions within Port Moresby with two, as it were, alternative prime ministers. This is unknown terrain in Papua New Guinea,” Rudd said.

“But we of course have been urging calm on the part of all parties. The PNG Defence Force has been directed to remain within barracks.

“We have a very, very protracted political dispute between a number of politicians in Port Moresby.

‘Peaceful resolution’
“We therefore have a responsibility to support a peaceful resolution to this dispute – violence would help nobody – and that’s what we intend to do while at the same time fully respecting Papua New Guinea’s sovereignty.

“We therefore will be watching these developments very closely and using quiet diplomacy with all parties. Our immediate concern is simply to await the deliberations of the Governor-General.”

Australians in Papua New Guinea have been warned to stay away from crowded areas, particularly near the court and government buildings.

Source: The Australian and video