Moem barracks remain ‘neutral’

Main Stories, National
Source:

The National, Friday 27th January 2012

By GABRIEL FITO
SOLDIERS at the Second Royal Pacific Island Regiment  Moem Barracks in Wewak, East Sepik province, have pledged to remain neutral.
Senior military officers met Wewak police station commander Charles Parinjo yesterday and gave him this undertaking.
It followed the short-lived mutiny and house arrest of commander Brig-Gen Francis Agwi at the hands of a group of rebel soldiers in Port Moresby yesterday.
Parinjo was told that Moem had its own in-house problems to worry about and would not take sides in what had
transpired in Port Moresby.
The soldiers said they did not want to disturb the peaceful life enjoyed by the people of East Sepik.
The soldiers were briefed about the situation in Port Moresby yesterday morning
and had since continued with their normal
duties.
At 4pm, the Moem Barracks was quiet, with only five officers in the Officers Mess watching television while a lone guard manned the boom gate.
Business houses, government offices, markets and the general public enjoyed a quiet day yesterday.
The house arrest of Agwi seemed to have minimum effect on them.