Q & AAsia-Pacific

Australia Treads Softly in Papua New Guinea Crisis

Last week, a group of rebel soldiers stormed the Papua New Guinea Defense Force barracks, placing the military commander under house arrest and calling for Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to step down.

The mutiny, led by a retired colonel who was subsequently arrested over the weekend, was a failed attempt to put an end to the political impasse that has gripped the Pacific Island country for the past six months, ever since the parliament replaced former Prime Minister Michael Somare while he was out of the country for medical treatment.

In December, the Supreme Court ruled that the parliament had acted illegally, but O’Neill, who maintains the support of lawmakers, refused to step down.

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