Papua New Guinea’s Defence Minister and minister responsible for the National Disaster Centre Dr Billy Joseph confirmed today that the government — with coordinated support from all stakeholder agencies and development partners — was responding appropriately to the natural disasters that has hit many parts of the country.

The National Disaster Center (NDC) is the national coordinating agency and is working with provincial governments and district development authorities (DDAs) as well as the Department of Works and Highways, PNG Defence Force and other stakeholders to coordinate and respond promptly.

The East Sepik provincial earthquake on Sunday left at least three dead and more than 1000 homes collapsed.

• READ MORE: Three people reported dead, 1000 homes destroyed by PNG earthquake

The US Geological Survey said it was magnitude 6.9 and just over 40 km deep.

King tides and heavy flooding
The minister confirmed that about 10 provinces are getting the necessary assistance from the National Disaster Center, including Goroka/EHP which was not included in the initial report provided to his office.

PNG Defence Force troops are working closely with the Simbu Provincial Government and Gumine DDA and their respective leaderships as Simbu was one of the worst affected provinces.

7 people missing off the coast of New Ireland Province
Nine people boarded a banana boat at Kavieng for Emirau Island but did not make it due to heavy weather conditions when the boat capsized.

Two of the young men swam to the island to look for help while seven others made a makeshift raft and floated awaiting assistance.

“As of today, seven people are still missing and our search is still active — if we don’t find them after 72 hours, we will declare them lost and the search will be discontinued,” Minister Joseph said.

The Australian Defence Force has provided a C27 aircraft to conduct low aerial surveillance of the subject areas.

A PNGDF Navy Patrol Boat has also been deployed to the area but no sightings have been reported.

The Search and Rescue operations are being coordinated by the National Maritime Safety Authority with oversight provided by the PNG Defence Force.

East Sepik Province earthquake
NDC is working very closely with the leaders of East Sepik, including the provincial government, to ensure much needed help reach the people that need it.

An emergency allocation of K200,000 (about NZ$90,000) has been made available for food, water, shelter and medicines etc as seen appropriate by the Provincial Disaster Committee.

It is at their disposal. A commercial helicopter is now in Wewak to assist in the relief operations and the PNDF military helicopter will join shortly.

“We are also mobilising support from our bilateral partners to assist but the challenge is now for the Provincial Disaster Center to provide reports to NDC so we define and coordinate what kind of emergency assistance is required,” Minister Joseph said.

Minister Joseph further warned Papua New Guineans to take precautions and not take risks, especially at sea, as the country’s emergency services are stretched and rescue efforts may not happen in time.

Miriam Zarriga is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

Papua New Guinea’s longest serving politician and oldest member of Parliament is already getting things moving in his province a week after being sworn-in.

New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan, 82, is not wasting his renewed five-year mandate and has given instructions for road projects to start.

His 56-year career — including two terms as Prime Minister– spans a crucial period of the country’s history, particularly its coming of age from an Australian colony to a leading democratic nation in the South Pacific.

• READ MORE: The memoirs of Sir Julius Chan
• Other PNG election reports

According to Sir Julius’ media team, work has commenced on the West Coast highway in New Ireland and aims to make it better than the East Coast highway.

In a statement, he said: “The highway must be equal if not better than the East Coast Highway. If it is not then we are wasting our time and we would not have left a mark on this place.

“You may be the last but you will be the best.”

Works Manager Solomon Pela said the West Coast would be getting K5 million (NZ$2.3 million) worth of road works done and it would be funded by the New Ireland government.

“The new highway will empower you economically, socially and dramatically change your living standards for the better.”

On top of this Sir Julius also met with Chinese Ambassador Zeng Fanhua last Thursday with discussions covering the two countries’ historical relationship, the Taiwan crisis and general development opportunities.

Thierry Lepani is a PNG Post-Courier journalist. Republished with permission.

Former prime minister and New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan is defending his seat one last time in Papua New Guinea’s 2022 general elections next month because he believes the system of government has failed the country.

Had the system not “failed miserably”, the iconic New Irelander said he could have called time “a long time ago” — but a lot of things, systems, mechanisms and people had misfired and failed along the way, prompting his last shot at a last term.

At 83, Sir Julius said this would be the last roll of the dice in his long and illustrious political career in which he was twice prime minister of PNG.

• READ MORE: Other reports on the PNG elections

Showing no signs of fragilities, he was opening a new LLG office in the gold-rich Lihir Islands and campaigning on his resource policy in the neighbouring Anir (Feni) Islands, south of Lihir last week.

An advocate of power sharing, Sir Julius wants to see New Ireland emerge as an autonomous province of PNG before he retires.

Autonomy is the rallying call for his reluctance to step down. He reckons mainland PNG will remain immune to autonomous political squabbling but in the islands, it will be as easy as “cutting the rope and floating away”.

It is the Sunday after the PNG Kumuls’ epic rugby league Test win over Fiji.

Humorous insight
We are sitting in the antiquated living room of Sir Julius’ Port Moresby apartment.

He is a little wry, perhaps taxed by the boat travels in his sparsely isolated home islands, from the past week.

Not one to shy away from life’s challenges, he even offers a humorous insight into what his political adversaries have dished out in the last couple of months.

“You know, my opponents have declared me dead four times on Facebook, and every time, I’ve risen from the dead,” he chuckles.

In a one-on-one exclusive, the knight spoke his mind: “I am not coming back just to play the game, nogat, I am here to score more, otherwise I am just wasting my time. If I don’t get anywhere, I make up my decision in between.”

Sir Julius said the people must have greater power sharing nationally, on a provincial and local level.

“Sadly yes, the system of government has failed the people, we must have greater sharing of power, national, provincial and local, greater sharing if not practically practised I think this country will disintegrate,” he said.

‘It happened in Russia’
“I mean we got enough to look at some of the more advanced countries in the world, how it got disintegrated. It happened in Russia, it used to be a big, big, big country, they are now fighting one another.

“Because of the regional population I think if we don’t change the system and give the other areas of PNG a chance to lead, that too will cause friction as it is at the moment. You increase the electorate… every time you increase one electorate in the New Guinea Islands region.

“I think you have to increase 10 in other parts of the country so hap blo mi yia, forever and ever. It will go smaller in percentage terms and being human that doesn’t go down too well; everybody wants to participate therefore we have to come up with a system somewhat to adapt [to] that.

“And when people have that power, they make decisions and when something goes wrong, they cannot throw blame at the government.

“As it is at the moment, every good is enjoyed at the local government but everything bad is the cause of the national government. And if you allow that to go on for a few years, it will deteriorate this country completely.

“I [have] got to share this with everybody — the mainland will never break, it’s not easy and it’s just like Israel and all the other countries that [are] next to it. The other countries, you know whenever there is a land problem, they will forever for thousands of years from the days, they will never be able to solve the disputes of the land border.

“But in the islands, you just cut the rope and we float — we are different. So there it is, that’s my summary and I am not coming back just to play the game, nogat, I am here to score more, otherwise I am just wasting my time. If I don’t get anywhere, I make up my decision in between.”

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist. Republished with permission.

Papua New Guinean and Australian police have linked the “black ship” intercepted by the PNG Navy north of Kavieng, New Ireland, last Saturday to a drug haul valued at K1.47 billion (NZ$626 million) in Australian waters, a senior officer said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations Donald Yamasombi told The National that the Australian police and border authorities and the PNG police believe it was the vessel which took bags of cocaine and offloaded them to a commercial fishing vessel, Coralynne, near Lord Howe Island in Australia.

“The boat is alleged to be the boat that took the cocaine and transferred it to an Australian commercial fishing vessel,” he said.

READ MORE: Drama at sea – PNG Navy detains alleged pirates

Yamasombi said they were trying to piece together all the information and collate evidence – which they find very little of on board the vessel now anchored at Kavieng port.

“It is a black ship. It does not have a name and has no markings,” he said.

An Australian newspaper report said the boat was detected near Noumea a few days ago.

It was making its way through PNG waters when the HMPNGS Moresby, which was near Kavieng at the time, was alerted.

‘Morgado Square’
Captain Nathan Tombe and his men intercepted the foreign vessel in a fisheries protection  zone called the “Morgado Square”, north of Kavieng.

“We warned the crew of the ship by bullhorn to stop for inspection,” he said.

“However, the warning was ignored, as were warning shots fired over the bow of the ship.

“As a result, the HMPNGS Moresby drew alongside the vessel and fired wounding one crew member. The ship pulled up and was ordered to accompany us to Kavieng.”

Kavieng Hospital confirmed that the wounded crew member, reported to be the captain, was recovering after an operation.

Yamasombi said if the ship had a name, it would be easy to find out where it came from.

Police are hoping that Australia can provide some information “so we would be able to know the details of the boat”.

Tracking the ship’s route
“As it is, we are working with the National Maritime Safety Authority to track the ship, looking at the route it travelled.

“If the transponder had been switched on, it would be easy to track it,” he said.

The nine crew members are likely to face charges under the Migration Act and Fisheries Act, he said.

“The crew members are under investigation because it is alleged to be a fishing boat.

“We will let Fisheries do their side of investigation and then we see what possible charges we can lay on them,” he said.

“illegal entry” was the appropriate charge under the Migration Act.

The National newspaper articles are republished by the Pacific Media Centre with permission.

But the move has been strongly criticised by the Bougainville Freedom Movement.

The chiefs rallied behind the Governor, Sir Julius, to support what they term as a courageous step for peace from the BRA Commander with the authority and authenticity being the first to meet with Sir Julius within three days of him assuming the Prime Ministership of Papua New Guinea in 1994 in Honiara during the height of the Bougainville conflict.

The late Bishop Gregory Singkai was with Sir Julius that made possible the face to face human dialogue between Sir Julius and Kauona, whom Sir Julius described as courteous and very respectful in the face of great adversity.

Kauona in a news release in The National newspaper last Thursday broke his long silence as a prominent figure in the 16 year-long Bougainville conflict and declared his political allegiance to the People’s Progress Party and its founder Sir Julius.

He cited his involvement in brokering peace talks that culminated in the moving reconciliation ceremony in Kavieng between the late President Joseph Kabui on behalf of the people of Bougainville and Sir Julius on behalf of New Ireland.

Kauona said Sir Julius showed the way to address issues and although he participated in reconciliations in Buka and Kavieng he and the PPP should reconcile with the people of Central Bougainville because it was the nerve center of the conflict.

New Ireland held Peace and Reconciliation consultation with President Joseph Kabui and was the only Province that sent an official government delegation to attend Kabui’s funeral and later reciprocated with the second Peace and Reconciliation with the Acting President, James Tanis, in Buka.

Responding to Kauona’s press release, Governor Sir Julius said from his home in Huris that he had kept close and friendly ties with the people of Bougainville through their President John Momis.

He was very encouraged by Kauona’s comments and awaited the opportunity to strengthen friendship with him and people of Central Bougainville.

“I have no qualms, no grudges, no ill-will against anyone in Bougainville as we are partly one heritage, one genesis and I thank Kauona for his straight talk and welcome him to visit and strengthen ties with New Ireland,” said Sir Julius.

“We need to eradicate all misunderstanding to hand a peaceful solid baton to the young generation for our two Provinces,” he said.

The Bougainville Freedom Movement said in a statement:

“Considering that Sir Julius Chan says he has no regrets over his handling of the Sandline mercenary affair, to kill, maim and murder the people of Bougainville, it is very difficult to understand why the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) Commander, Sam Kauona has declared his political allegiance to the People’s Progress Party and its founder Sir Julius Chan.

“The power of the people in Papua New Guinea (PNG), prompted Jerry Singirok, the General of the PNG Defence Forces to stop the hired killers of Sandline mercenaries by taking them hostage in 1997. This is what stopped the war on Bougainville and allowed peace to prevail.

“It also led to the downfall of Sir Julius Chan and his government.

“This year in March 2016, Sir Julius Chan released his autobiography and still says that if he had been allowed to continue with the Sandline mercenary operation to put down the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) and the people of Bougainville in 1997, he would have been able to bring the island of Bougainville under control.

“So now in November 2016, it seems Sir Julius Chan has the General Commander of the BRA under control, like a wish come true.”