Papua New Guinea has dispatched a team of government officials to investigate a covid-19 delta variant threat in its two frontline provinces bordering Indonesia’s Papua — Western and West Sepik.

Health Minister Jelta Wong has revealed this in Parliament while responding to questions without notice.

Admitting the rise of delta cases in the two provinces that share land and sea borders with Indonesia was a “major concern”, he told Parliament last week that the investigating team was due back in Port Moresby today and would report to government.

He was replying to a question from the Member for Aitape-Lumi, Patrick Pruaitch, who had asked what the government was doing to address the delta cases in the two border provinces.

Pruaitch said Western and West Sepik provinces were currently experiencing an increase in covid-19 that had already killed several people as reported in newspapers.

He said it was important that the government took a “frontline approach” to prevent the deadly delta variant from spreading.

Pruaitch wanted the minister to tell the nation what measures and plans it had to address the crisis, and also reveal the level of funding it had made to mitigate the spread of the variant.

Investigators on the ground
Minister Wong said the government had already dispatched the surveillance team to the two border provinces to investigate, identify the needs and report back to government.

Wong said the team would report the findings to the government which would then decide on action to be taken and funding.

The team also included some development aid partners.

Minister Wong said the variant was real and serious and was now threatening PNG with several deaths already reported, especially in Western Province.

He said while it was an individual’s choice to be vaccinated or not, it was vital for MPs to be responsible and to educate their people.

They needed to tell them the truth about the need for vaccination and about the virus that was now a threat to humanity.

Indonesia has a growing covid-19 crisis with almost 4.2 million cases, 138,889 deaths and only 15 percent of the 270 million people vaccinated.

Jeffrey Elapa is a PNG Post-Ciurier reporter.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea and neighbouring Indonesia have been discussing a potential reopening of their shared border.

The border was officially closed early last year due to the covid-19 pandemic, but the illegal movement of people back and forth has continued across the porous international boundary.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape met with Indonesia’s Ambassador in Port Moresby, Andriana Supandy, and agreed that the border must be properly policed to prevent the spread of covid-19.

Indonesia’s heath system is being stretched with high covid infection rates, and PNG has also struggled to contain the spread of the virus.

No date has been given for when the border may reopen officially.

In others areas discussed, Supandy proposed for the two countries to enter into a Free Trade Agreement to boost trade and commerce, citing the potential as demonstrated in the success of vanilla trade between PNG and Indonesia.

The ambassador also informed Prime Minister Marape that Indonesia has already ratified the Border and Defence Cooperation Agreement and Land Border Transport Agreement and was awaiting PNG to do the same.

He said these agreements would pave the way for a more robust bilateral tie between the two countries.

On West Papua, the diplomat said that Indonesia appreciated the consistent position that PNG government has taken in acknowledging that the western half of New Guinea was an integral part of Indonesia.

He said the West Papuan self-determination demands remained an internal issue for Indonesia to resolve.

A release from Marape’s office also said both countries had discussed the need for joint cooperation in power connectivity to areas in PNG’s Western and West Sepik provinces.

Military donation
The Indonesian military has donated an aircraft engine to the PNG Defence Force Air Transport Squadron for one of its aircraft to be used for operations in the 2022 general election.

Marape also confirmed yesterday that US$14 million would be ballocated in 2021 and 2022 to ensure all aircraft were ready to be used next year.

The The National newspaper reports Marape saying the aircraft would also be used in enforce transborder security.

The head of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Strategic Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant-General Joni Supriyanto, arrived on a Lockheed C-130H Hercules in Port Moresby yesterday with the engine.

He said transporting the overhauled Casa aircraft engine to PNG “would enhance relationship and cooperation between the armed forces contributing to security and stability in the region”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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The West Sepik administration is not happy with the way illegal border crossers are being handled by the Indonesian and Papua New Guinean consular officials in Jayapura amid the worsening covid pandemic crisis.

Administrator Conrad Tilau said the provincial administration had now withdrawn its support and involvement in anything to do with border crossers due to the hike in covid-19 pandemic cases in the province.

He said the total covid-19 cases in West Sepik had increased to 336 and it was a concern for the provincial administration.

Tilau said the border crossing was one transmission pathway and the provincial administration was concerned that an isolation centre had not been established in the province.

He said the issue of border crossing was a major concern for his administration, particularly with the surge in the covid-19 cases, and illegal activities along the border.

Tilau said the border crossing into Indonesia was an illegal activity that needed Indonesian authorities to deal with them using their laws instead of sending perpetrators back to Papua New Guinea and creating more problems.

“Border crossing is still going on unnoticed and those crossers are conducting illegal activities and they should be subject to the Indonesian laws,” he said.

‘Poses more risk to PNG’
“For the PNG Consular [officials] in Jayapura to send back those illegal border crossers poses more risk to the country.

“They are illegally in Indonesia so they should be subject to Indonesian laws instead of deporting them to PNG and creating more problems like the increase in covid-19 pandemic cases.”

Tilau said the provincial administration was involved in the exercise along the border when covid-19 first entered the country in 2020 but since then it had stopped its support.

“When we tested the first case in 2021, we said no repatriation but the consular-general got approval from the Pandemic Controller [Police Commissioner David Manning] to send those people back; we do not have an isolation centre in Vanimo to deal with border crossers infected with covid-19,” he said.

‘Indonesia should help PNG’
“Indonesia should help PNG amid the surge in sovid-19 cases.

“What kind of bilateral relationship is this?

“PNG and Indonesia must cooperate to protect their borders from covid-19 and … illegal activities.

“The provincial government and provincial administration have withdrawn our involvement.”

He urged the national government, through the Pandemic Controller, to fund a covid-19 isolation centre in Vanimo given the surge in infections and movement of people along the border.

Meanwhile, the Pandemic Controller has issued a travel restriction along PNG’s international borders.

Jeffrey Elapa is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Watch

Police in Papua New Guinea have arrested nine alleged illegal border crossers and quarantined them in Vanimo, reports RNZ Pacific.

The arrests came as East Sepik Governor Allan Bird called for “shoot to kill’ orders for illegal border crossers and a military control of areas along the border between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

The newspaper The National reports three Indonesians from Papua and six vanilla sellers from PNG’s East Sepik province had crossed the border from Indonesia

READ MORE: Al Jazeera coronavirus live updates – Global cases surpass 900,000

They were arrested and then placed in 14 days of quarantine by the West Sepik provincial health authority.

The land border between PNG and Indonesia has been closed since late January due in an attempt to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The West Sepik police commander, Chief Inspector Moses Ibsagi, said the illegal border crossers were not taking heed of the national government’s warning on the dangers of Covid-19.

Mr Ibsagi said the vanilla traders in particular, who had just returned from selling their beans in Jayapura, were more concerned about money than the lives of eight million people of PNG.

Confirmed cases in Jayapura
With several confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Jayapura, and likely more unreported cases, the provincial police commander is concerned about the virus spreading via the PNG kina bank notes which the traders obtained in Jayapura.

He warned that when the money was brought back to PNG, it could circulate through buying and selling of goods or services, helping the virus to easily spread among local people.

Meanwhile, in a statement yesterday, East Sepik Governor Allan Bird called for a “shoot to kill” policy.

“I have a disturbing report that people are still crossing the border from Indonesia into my province. Even as of l[Sunday night] five people came in a speed boat and three people the previous night,” Bird said.

“I am asking if a special order can be made and our border districts be placed under military control.

“I want the military to be given shoot to kill orders. East Sepik has no hospital facilities. We are only operating out of makeshift shelters. We can’t cope.”

Bird said the East Sepik province had so far 37 people of interest and all of them had come across from Indonesia.

‘Massive infections’
“I understand Indonesians who are frightened by the massive infections on that side could be crossing the borders to run away from the disease. If that happens, we are finished.

“I have been raising concerns about this border for more than two months. Nobody listened to my concerns.

“I am raising a new threat from the border which I see coming. They could already be moving across as I speak.

“Leaders we must take this decision to save our people.”

Bird is expected to raise the same issue when Parliament meets today to introduce the Emergency Bill to give legal effect to the state-of-emergency and also to introduce a supplementary budget containing a stimulus package containing relief during the emergency period.

Prime Minister James Marape has also given assurance that the police and military presence would be beefed up along the border provinces of West Sepik and Western.

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By Elias Nanau in Port Moresby

Indonesia has issued a stern warning over illegal border crossers from Papua New Guinea.

This follows Indonesia stepping up its security measures at the border in response to the global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

The First Secretary to the governor for West Sepik, Adam Wangu, has already informed people via a social media forum.

READ MORE: Al Jazeera coronavirus live updates: Italy deaths rise by 756 in one day

He was informed by the Papua New Guinean Embassy in Jakarta that police and military personnel are guarding all the entry points that are used by PNG citizens.

“There maybe no mercy if you are caught,” Wangu said.

“Don’t take this message as a joke.”

Four men picked up
This follows an instance where four men from Maprik in East Sepik who were picked up on Thursday in Vanimo as persons of interest after they illegally crossed through the jungle past Wutung into Jayapura to sell their vanilla beans.

Provincial police commander Moses Ibsagi said yesterday West Sepik was on lockdown and a few hinterland areas like Lumi were being monitored by police reservists that had been engaged.

He said frontline service providers such as PNG Power, police, military personnel, health officials, quarantine and customs were still active.

A Consort shipping vessel is expected to arrive in Vanimo with store goods and Ibsagi said the police had issued notice to people to stock food rations.

Police Minister Bryan Kramer, in a press conference on Thursday, said the national operations Covid-19 was considering West Sepik and Western as high risk locations and there would be increased surveillance there to protect the country from any openings for the virus.

The government should make an announcement this week on the deployment.

Indonesia has reported coronavirus infections on the rise to at least 1155 with 102 deaths, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) figures yesterday.

In Papua New Guinea, there has been only one reported case of an international traveller who has since been airlifted out of the country.

Elias Nanau is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.

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By Albert Agua in Waigani

Indonesia is driving towards the Papua New Guinea border because of a recent discovery of huge mineral deposits in the Star Mountain regency just at the back of Tabubil Ok Tedi mine.

“Reportedly, there is gold, copper, coal, and thorium – a safer radioactive chemical than uranium,” says president-director of PT Antam Tato Miraza, who was then Director of Development, reports Pusaka.

“Geological Survey shows its potential is good and promising.”

READ MORE: West Papua Liberation Army behind deadly Nduga attack

The core of the deposit is, however, found in the disputed area of the border between PNG and Indonesia.

The claimed Papua border “shift” – the red zone near Ok Tedi mine. Source: PNG Blogs

Recently, Indonesian troops patrolled to Korkit and surveyed the land just around 40km from Ok Tedi, less than 10km from the border marker in the Korkit village to build another military base.

-Partners-

The citizens from Korkit village who are PNG citizens are moving into the new Indonesian village.

This is just 20km from the mineral deposit area.

Thorium, a weakly radioactive element that can be used as fuel in a nuclear power reactor, has been discovered in the disputed area and this has been the sole driver for Indonesians to force themselves into the disputed territory.

Also the “explorers” are actually the military carrying out the exploration.

The Indonesians have been transporting mining supplies to the area and the locals are prepared to wage war if the exploration continues under heavy military security.

Wutung border improvements
Meanwhile, major improvements in infrastructure and capacity are planned for the PNG-Papua border at Wutung, reports Loop PNG.

The improvements are planned as part of the PNG government’s West Sepik Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

National Planning Minister Richard Maru and delegates of a fact-finding mission to West Sepik visited the border area last week.

Loop PNG also reports that an international bus service and terminal are planned for the Wutung border post.

Albert Agua is an academic at the University of Papua New Guinea.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz