Namah wants Tkatchenko out for stand on Ukraine

THE Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs has criticised Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko for convening a meeting of foreign diplomats at which statements were obtained in support of Ukraine.
Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence, International Trade, Immigration and Border issues chairman Belden Namah said making such statements on PNG soil could imply that PNG supported all positions and actions in the conflict which was not correct.
“We do not have the capacity to arm Ukraine as some countries have done and continue to do.
“We have not engaged in any trade bans against Russia with which we have existing trade arrangements,” Namah said.
“To allow our soil to be used by countries to make statements in support of Ukraine is to also endorse what they are doing to aid the conflict. That decision, if it must be made, has to come from our National Parliament.”
Namah urged heads of foreign missions to refrain from making their country’s positions on a third country or countries on PNG soil.
He called on the Prime Minister to remove Tkatchenko for his continuous “diplomatic blunders and incompetence”.
Tkatchenko expressed disappointment last night and said Namah’s statement “lacked decency”.
Tkatchenko said: “Papua New Guinea made its stand on Ukraine known at the United Nations General Assembly in March 2022, and continues to echo its moral support with like-minded nations to end the Russia-Ukraine war based on humanitarian grounds.
“According to the report from the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, reported deaths of Ukraine civilians is at more than 10,000 since the start of the war on Feb 24 2022 – more than 500 of them children; and the member chooses to use this to drive his political attack on me. That is not honour; as a former military officer – where is the decency as a Papua New Guinean?”
Tkatchenko said last week’s collective stand by heads of foreign missions in the country, spearheaded by French Ambassador Guillaume Lemoine with support from fellow foreign heads of missions, is consistent with the United Nations Charter.
“The united stand by the foreign heads of missions respect the standing international rule of law; nations who want peace, and nations who want to live in peace in a coexistent environment where there is predictability and observance of good citizenship in the global community.
“These nations have banded together since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. They have called for the unconditional cessation of aggression and the withdrawal of Russian troops in Ukraine,” he said.