Sydney, Oct 29 (AFP) Tensions were high on a Papua NewGuinea island today as authorities prepared to close anAustralian refugee camp, with local police calling for calm assome detainees refused to move.
The Manus Island detention centre, to close on Tuesday,is one of two Pacific camps where asylum-seekers who try toenter Australia by boat are sent for processing underCanberra's harsh immigration policy.
Refugees had been given the option of moving to the othercentre on the island of Nauru but most detainees have shunnedthe offer, expressing fears that relocation could furtherprolong their agony.
Some have also refused to relocate on Manus, citingsafety fears amid reports they would not be welcomed in localneighbourhoods.
"The guys (refugees) have said they will stay, they don'tintend to move," Refugee Action Coalition spokesman IanRintoul told AFP today.
"As of today, the mess is closed so food will no longerbe available inside the detention centre and they (centre'smanagement) are going to be issuing food packs... for twodays."The plan to close the Manus centre came after a ruling byPNG's Supreme Court last year that holding people there wasunconstitutional.
Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton saidpreviously the Manus facility would close by the end ofOctober.
Conditions in both camps have been widely criticised byrefugee advocates and medical professionals amid reports ofwidespread abuse, self-harm and mental health problems.
Detainees are barred from being transferred to Australiaand Canberra has tried to resettle them in third countries.
It struck a deal with former US President Barack Obamafor America to resettle an unspecified number of thedetainees, but so far just 54 people have been notified oftheir acceptance and a group of only 24 have flown out.
Hundreds more remain at the camp.
PNG police said they would help move the detainees totemporary locations but warned today that the safety ofrefugees and government workers was "not to be taken forgranted".
There was a "small disgruntled faction among therefugees", police commissioner Gari Baki said, while pleadingwith locals not to make the transfers -- scheduled fortomorrow -- difficult.
"The Commissioner of Police is appealing to the people ofManus not to create any uncertainty and let the transfer ofthe refugees be done as smoothly as possible," a policestatement said.
The calls for calm came as a report by Human Rights Watchreleased on Wednesday said the Manus refugees faced "uncheckedviolence".
"While the October 31 deadline looms, refugees and asylumseekers on Manus Island have been getting stabbed, beaten, androbbed," Human Rights Watch's Australia director ElainePearson said in a statement.
"The tragic irony is that moving these men from theirsqualid, guarded centre and settling them elsewhere in PNGwill actually put them at greater danger." (AFP)KIS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.
