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A Week After Deadly Riots, a Fragile Peace in Papua New Guinea
A wage dispute prompted violent unrest in the Pacific nation, which experts call evidence of the effects of its demographic challenges.
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A damaged building after deadly riots in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, last week. Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By Christopher Cottrell and Natasha Frost
Christopher Cottrell reported from Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and Natasha Frost from Melbourne, Australia.
Jan. 18, 2024, 1:50 a.m. ET
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Bullets flew. Stores and warehouses burned. At the edge of the prime minister’s compound, hundreds of protesters tugged at the gates and set a guard booth on fire. Inside, on the 10th floor of the beige building that housed the office of the country’s leader, he was facing calls to respond forcefully, perhaps even ask the former colonial ruler for help.
“We are not calling in the Australians,” Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea told a reporter visiting him in his office. “We can handle this ourselves.”
Last week’s deadly unrest caught officials unaware and left Mr. Marape grappling with a fast-moving crisis. But discontent had been simmering for months in one of the poorest countries in the world. Papua New Guinea has a very large youth population, but few jobs to offer its young people, making economic hardship even more severe.
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Natasha Frost writes The Times’s weekday newsletter The Europe Morning Briefing and reports on Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. She is based in Melbourne, Australia. More about Natasha Frost
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