2) PM tipped to meet West Papua leader today

 

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill is tipped to meet with West Papua leader Benny Wenda this afternoon in Port Moresby.
However, the reason behind the meeting is not known as details are sketchy at the moment.
Co-ordinator of Free West Papua PNG Chapter Freddy Mambraso told PNG Loop that Mr O’Neill had flown back to Port Moresby from Madang during the day and would meet with Mr Wenda this afternoon.
PNG Loop, friends, family members and supporters of Free West Papua were at the Jacksons International Airport to get a glimpse of Mr Wenda’s threatened deportation but to no avail.
It is understood that negotiations between the NCD Governor Powes Parkop and the Government are  still continuing for Mr Wenda to spend some time in Port Moresby rather than be deported.
Benny Wenda, a West Papua independence leader and spokesperson for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, arrived in Papua New Guinea yesterday and was “unexpectedly detained’’  by PNG immigration authorities
Mr Wenda had flown from the United Kingdom arriving yesterday and had planned to stop briefly here before heading to a major meeting in Vanuatu of Melanesian leaders.
Mr Wenda was released yesterday afternoon and was supposed to be deported today at 1pm but that did not happen.
Meanwhile, a Free Papua news released earlier today claimed that PNG Immigration officers are going against the Prime Minister’s orders in detaining Mr Wenda.
In a statement, the Free West Papua Campaign said Prime Minister O’Neill and Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato had directed that Mr Wenda should be permitted to enter PNG.
The campaign statement claimed Mr Wenda wanted to thank Mr O’Neill for his recent statement calling for attention to human rights of the West Papua people.
The statement also claimed that the chief of Immigration at the airport was “refusing to take calls’’ from Mr O’Neill and insisted on deporting Mr Wenda.
“It appears that Indonesian influence on the PNG immigration authorities is very strong today because the head of the immigration service at the airport is refusing to take calls from the PNG Prime Minister and is saying that he is intending to deport Mr Wenda.
“Earlier today Mr Wenda explained to media that he is coming to PNG to thank the Prime Minister for his recent statements of concern for the Melanesian people of West Papua and to brief the PNG Foreign Minister on the latest developments,” the statement claimed.
Mr Wenda said that “the United Liberation Movement for West Papua is seeking to apply for membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group and I will brief PNG on the progress of the application and on the situation in West Papua generally.”