PNG army demands (Sidney Morning Herald)

Rebels demand Australian ties be cut (english) 
by Sydney Morning Herald 11:56am Thu Mar 22 '01 


The petition also demanded that the Government ends reliance on advice from
PNG's main external aid donors, Australia and the twin multilateral
agencies the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. 

"The IMF, the World Bank and Australia should leave PNG immediately because
they have only manipulated the destiny of the nation," Captain Benny read
out. Rebels demand Australian ties be cut 

By A Herald Correspondent in Port Moresby, and agencies 

Papua New Guinea's week-old army mutiny appears to be winding down, but
only after rebellious soldiers gave a nationalist, anti-Australia and
anti-foreign twist to what started as a quasi-industrial protest against
proposed downsizing. 

The Government has now scrapped its decision to cut PNG Defence Force
numbers by more than half, pending further talks, and the Prime Minister,
Sir Mekere Morauta, yesterday made a further concession by meeting a
delegation of rebellious soldiers to hear their grievances. 

The delegation of about 25 officers and soldiers met Sir Mekere at his
official residence yesterday and agreed that several hundred protesting
troops at three barracks around the capital, Port Moresby, would hand in
seized weapons. 

But the head of the delegation, Captain Stanley Benny, read a petition in
which the troops demanded the immediate recall of Parliament, currently in
a long recess, which would open Sir Mekere's Government to the risk of a
no-confidence vote. 

The petition also demanded that the Government ends reliance on advice from
PNG's main external aid donors, Australia and the twin multilateral
agencies the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. 

"The IMF, the World Bank and Australia should leave PNG immediately because
they have only manipulated the destiny of the nation," Captain Benny read out. 

"Their foreign ideas have completely destroyed the nation. The World Bank,
IMF and Australian influences - I repeat, Australian influences - have
denuded the nation's vast resources under the guise of assistance." These
demands suggest the threatened military is casting around for allies to
resist the cuts Sir Mekere is making across the public sector to bring the
country back from near bankruptcy. 

Extensive privatisation is among a list of reforms promised to
international donors in return for more than $A400 million in low interest
loans. The Prime Minister, who was accompanied by the Defence Minister, Mr
Kilroy Genia, and other senior officials, did not respond to the petition,
saying it would be considered by his full Cabinet. 

"I am not here to argue your petition," Sir Mekere told the soldiers. "I am
here to meet you and put this incident behind us and to move forward." Late
yesterday the mutinous soldiers had handed in few of the 1,000 firearms and
thousands of rounds of ammunition seized from armouries, officers at
Defence Force headquarters said. 

They said it might take until the weekend to wind down the protest, which
started after the Government adopted recommendations to cut the badly
funded Defence Force from its current 4,500 personnel to about 1,900, and
sell prime defence land in Port Moresby. 

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said this decision had been dropped, and
the Government would now go back to "comprehensive discussions" with
defence force members about their future. The Government now had to
establish a "new rapport" with the forces, the spokesman said. He was
unable to say how long the consultations would take.
www.smh.com.au/news/0103/23/world/world1...