By Sarah E. Treptow
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea– The Governor of the National Capital District in Papua New Guinea, Powes Parkop, wants to be sure that residents from Port Moresby’s squatter settlements are rehoused in communities that are not structured around ethnic lines.  Mr. Parkop insists that the Tete settlement must be closed permanently.  Much of the Tete settlement was destroyed under police direction after the brutal murder of a PNG businessman highlighted the violence of the settlement.  Though six were arrested, critics of settlement communities called for tougher action.

The Governor officially made his stand at a press conference at Unagi oval, “Tete settlement has seen some of the most heinous of crimes ever committed in PNG’s history and in the interest of the security of the majority of our people, we must close this settlement permanently.  If we do not close it, we will live to regret it in the future as we have seen in the recent past.”  Mr. Parkop continued, “I neither condemn nor condone the action of the police in razing down the settlement but am adamant that this settlement must be closed permanently.”  He said innocent persons have been affected but the rights and freedom of the majority of the community of the city who wish to live in peace and security were paramount.

Mr. Parkop said he was advised that Tete is state land and it was the NCDC that allowed the settlement to be established in the early 1990s.  The settlers will be relocated and NCDC will make parts of Morata and Duran Farm at Laloki available for resettlement.  NCDC will also assist with the initial cost of relocation and in setting up temporary accommodations for settlers willing to resettle, the NCDC will call on the government to support this.  Addressing the ethnic balance, Mr. Parkop said, “The resettlement exercise will follow the principle of ensuring that there is ethnic balance in the new locations the residents find themselves.  There will no longer be a settlement or community where a particular ethnic group dominates or is a major community among others.  This has been the problem with Tete in the past.”

Mr. Parkop said the cycle of violence must be stopped in similar squatter settlements or the perpetrators will be removed from the city.  The settlements are described as a mixed blessing, blamed as a source of a lot of the problems in urban areas but also where a large portion of the workforce lives by choice or necessity.

For more information, please see:
Post-Courier – Parkop set to remove Tete – 31 December 2008

Radio New Zealand International – Port Moresby Governer advocates for new settlements that are not along ethnic lines – 31 December 2008

TVNZ – Bulldoze PNG’s settlements due to crime, business boss says – 18 December 2008