Amicable solution sought for refugees

By LUKE KAMA
MANUS government administrator Andrew Posong says the Australian and the PNG governments need to find an amicable solution quickly to resettle the refugees at the Manus processing centre.
The refugees are finding it tough to live there now without food, water and electricity for three weeks now.
The PNG Supreme Court ruled that the centre was unconstitutional and ordered it to be closed by the end of last month.
However, refugees have refused to move to new camps at West Lorengau for safety reasons and they do not want to continue a prison life after spending four years at the centre, they said.
Posong said the PNG and Australian governments should show some sense of humanity and resettle those found to be genuine refugees.
“The problem now is that we have some genuine refugees and some refugees that are not genuine,” Posong said.
“So it’s something that is the responsibility of the Immigration authority to look into.
“If they are genuine, they can be allowed to resettle in Australia and that is something the Australian government will have to decide on and that needs to be done quickly,” Posong said.
An Iranian refugee Ali Fardmavini said yesterday that those  remaining at the closed camp at Lombrum were suffering from diseases, hunger and thirst.
“They are at the mercy of the locals and church groups here who supply them at times with water and food, but now the Defence (Force) are restricting movement into the centre so it’s worse than the war that is going on in Syria,” he said.
Fardmavini said locals were good people with big hearts.
“The locals here are generous but at times become aggressive and that sometimes happens in life when there is a disagreement” he said.
“It’s all because of what the Australian government has done by refusing to resettle us in Australia, where we want to go.”