Port Moresby: Mutinous soldiers seized Papua New Guinea's military headquarters yesterday, replaced the top defence official and demanded that Prime Minister Peter O'Neill cede power to his ousted predecessor within a week.
Both O'Neill and his predecessor Michael Somare claim to be the rightful leader of the South Pacific's most populous island nation.
The self-proclaimed new chief of the country's defence forces, retired Col. Yaura Sasa, insisted he was not mounting a coup. But he warned that the military would take unspecified action unless O'Neill stands down and Somare is reinstated, as a court ordered last month.
"Both Sir Michael Somare and O'Neill have seven days to implement the Supreme Court's orders to resolve the current political impasse or I will be forced to take actions to uphold the integrity of the constitution," Sasa told reporters in Port Moresby.
The government, in turn, urged Sasa's group to surrender saying the mutiny did not have support from the broader military. Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah said 30 soldiers were involved in the mutiny, 15 of whom were arrested.
Rebel soldiers overpowered guards at the Taurama Barracks in Port Moresby before dawn, then moving to the military headquarters at Murray Barracks where they placed the head of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, Brigadier General Francis Agwi, under house arrest. There were no reports of bloodshed.
