The 606 men refusing to leave an Australian immigration camp in Papua New Guinea were without power and many of their toilets on Wednesday as reports emerged saying one of them had resorted to harming himself while others needed urgent medical treatment.
In this undated photo released by Refugee Action Coalition, refugees and asylum seekers hold up banners during a protest at the Manus Island immigration detention centre in Papua New Guinea. (Refugee Action Coalition via AP)
The camp inside a Manus Island navy base was declared closed Tuesday afternoon based on the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court's ruling last year that Australia's policy of detaining asylum seekers there was illegal and unconstitutional. But the men who have stayed at the camp on Lombrun Navy Base fear for their safety in the alternative shelters available in the nearby town of Lorengau because of threats from locals.
The Sydney-based Refugee Action Coalition said the removal of electricity generators Wednesday morning left the camp without power, including toilets that operate on electrical pumps. They still have tap water, though the coalition says it isn't drinkable.
As the asylum seekers faced a second nervous night at the now-unguarded facility amid ongoing fears of violence from locals, an Iranian man living there, Behrouz Boochani, tweeted: "A refugee has harmed himself with a razor. He cut his wrist and chest. Physically he's good now but mentally is out of control."
In this photo made from Australia Broadcasting Coporation video made on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, asylum seekers protesting the possible closure of their detention center, on Manus Island, Paua New Guinea. (Australia Broadcasting Coroporation via AP)
In another tweet, Boochani said: "Some refugees are very sick. They need urgent medical treatment. They have been physically sick for a long time. There is no support for them." He added later that "a Rohingya refugee with epilepsy is sick now."
Boochani also tweeted that Papua New Guinea immigration officials had sent a bus to the center Wednesday morning to take refugees to their alternative accommodation in Lorengau, but that "the refugees are still refusing to go. Immigration is saying (it's) your choice".
The Refugee Action Coalition has applied to the Supreme Court for an injunction stopping the closure of the camp. Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said the first night without security staff guarding the residents had at least passed peacefully.
"The men are sitting tight for the moment," Rintoul said. "The situation isn't great, but at least there were no attacks during the night."
This photo made from Australia Broadcasting Corporation video taken on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, shows asylum seekers protesting the possible closure of their detention center on Manus Island, Paua New Guinea. (Australia Broadcasting Corporation via AP)
Rintoul said some locals brought food and drinking water to the perimeter fence, some selling it to the men, others donating it.
Papua New Guinea officials had said the facility would be returned to defense forces on Wednesday and that anyone remaining would be considered to be trespassing on a military base. However, that failed to happen on Wednesday, as a standoff continued.
Australia's acting prime minister, Julie Bishop, standing in for Malcolm Turnbull during his visit to Israel, said it made "no sense" for detainees to remain at the center, but she could not guarantee their safety if they left the camp.
"The Papua New Guinea government is a sovereign government and is responsible for law and order and security on their islands in their nation," Bishop told ABC radio.
This photo made from Australia Broadcasting Corporation video taken on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, shows housing of asylum seekers protesting the possible closure of their detention center, on Manus Island, Paua New Guinea. (Australia Broadcasting Corporation via AP)
She said food, water, electricity and medical services would be provided at alternative accommodation on the island.
For four years, Australia has paid Papua New Guinea, its nearest neighbor, and the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru to house asylum seekers who attempt to reach the Australian coast by boat. They are Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, Afghans, Iranians, Sri Lankans and other nationalities.
Australia has recognized that many of the asylum seekers are refugees who cannot return to their homelands, but it refuses to resettle anyone who tried to reach the country by boat in a policy it credits with dissuading such dangerous ocean crossings. Some whose refugee claims were denied have been forcibly sent home.
But Australia and Papua New Guinea still disagree on who has responsibility for those Australia has recognized as refugees yet won't accept on its own soil.
The United States has resettled 54 of them in recent weeks and is considering taking almost 1,200 more.
The men are free to come and go from the Manus Island camp, which is no longer a detention center since the court ruling, but they've reported robberies and violence directed at them when they go into the community.
Of the 606 men, some 440 have been deemed to be legitimate refugees, while the remainder are categorized as non-refugees, including around 50 who have refused to cooperate with the determination process as they say they were unlawfully transferred to Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea authorities have deployed extra police to the town of Lorengau, where the three new housing centers are located. A protest of about 100 people earlier this week demanded Australia take back the men and they not live in the community.
Australian opposition Greens senator Nick McKim, who is on Manus Island, has labeled Immigration Minister Peter Dutton a "monster" over his handling of the closure of the center. He warned that deaths were inevitable and that Dutton "could have blood on his hands."
BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of people fled the central Syrian city of Homs, the country's third largest, as insurgents seized two towns on the outskirts Friday, positioning themselves for an assault on a potentially major prize in their march against President Bashar Assad.
The move, reported by pro-government media and an opposition war monitor, was the latest in the stunning advances by opposition fighters over the past week that have so far met little resistance from Assad's forces. A day earlier, fighters captured the central city of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest, after the army said it withdrew to avoid fighting inside the city and spare the lives of civilians.
The insurgents, led by the jihadi Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have vowed to march to Homs and the capital, Damascus, Assad’s seat of power. Videos circulating online showed a highway jammed with cars full of people fleeing Homs, a city with a large population belonging to Assad's Alawite sect, seen as his core supporters.
If Assad's military loses Homs, it could be a crippling blow. The city, parts of which were controlled by insurgents until 2014, is at an important intersection between Damascus and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, where Assad enjoys wide support. Homs province is Syria’s largest in size and borders Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan.
The foreign ministers of Iran, Iraq and Syria — three close allies — gathered Friday in Baghdad to consult on the rapidly changing war. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein expressed “deep concern,” saying his government is closely following the situation in Syria.
Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh said the current developments may pose “a serious threat to the security of the region as a whole.”
The insurgent fighters on Friday took over the towns of Rastan and Talbiseh, putting them 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Homs, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor.
“The battle of Homs is the mother of all battles and will decide who will rule Syria,” said Rami Abdurrahman, the Observatory’s chief.
Pro-government Sham FM said the insurgents entered Rastan and Talbiseh without facing any resistance. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military.
The Observatory said Syrian troops had left Homs. But the military denied that in comments reported by the state news agency SANA, saying troops were reinforcing their positions in the city and were “ready to repel” any assault.
For the past week, government troops have repeatedly fallen back in the face of the sudden opposition offensive, which flipped the tables on a long-entrenched stalemate in Syria's nearly 14-year-old civil war.
After years of largely being bottled up in a northwest corner of the country, the insurgents began their advances a week ago with the capture of the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest. Along with HTS, the fighters include forces of an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army.
The abrupt turnaround has struck a blow to Syria's already decrepit economy. On Friday, the U.S. dollar was selling on Syria's parallel market for about 18,000 pounds, a 25% drop from a week ago. When Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011, a dollar was valued at 47 pounds. The drop further undermines the purchasing power of Syrians at a time when the U.N. has warned that 90% of the population is below the poverty line.
Syria's economy has been hammered for years by the war, Western sanctions, corruption and an economic meltdown in neighboring Lebanon, Syria's main gate to the outside world.
Damascus residents told The Associated Press that people are rushing to markets to buy food, fearing further escalation.
The worsening economy could be undermining the ability of Syria's military to fight, as the value of soldiers' salaries melts away while the insurgents are flush with cash.
Syria's military, which is backed by Russian forces stationed in the country, has not appeared to put up a cohesive counteroffensive against the opposition advances. SANA on Friday quoted an unnamed military official as saying the Syrian and Russian air forces were striking insurgents in Hama province, killing dozens of fighters.
Syria’s defense minister said in a televised statement late Thursday that government forces withdrew from Hama as “a temporary tactical measure" and vowed to gain back lost areas.
“We are in a good position on the ground,” Gen. Ali Mahmoud Abbas said, saying troops remained “at the gates of Hama.” He spoke before the opposition advanced further south toward Homs.
He said the insurgents, whom he described as “takfiri” or Muslim extremists, are backed by foreign countries. He did not name the countries but appeared to be referring to Turkey, which is a main backer of the opposition, and the United States.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that the opposition advances were not something Turkey desired, but he appeared to welcome that they were proceeding without clashes or harm to civilians.
Erdogan appeared to blame the developments on Assad’s refusal to enter a dialogue with Turkey.
“We had made a call to Assad. We said, ‘Come, let’s meet. Let’s determine the future of Syria together,’" he said. "Unfortunately, we could not get a positive response from Assad.”
Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.
Residents leave the city carrying their belongings in Hama, Syria, Friday Dec. 6, 2024.(AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Insurgent fighters take a selfie in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of the city in downtown Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Insurgent fighters celebrate in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of the city in downtown Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
An image of Syrian President Bashar Assad, riddled with bullets, is seen on the facade of the provincial government office in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh, left, is welcomed by his Iraqi counterpart Fouad Hussein during his visit to Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Opposition fighters, left, stand at the entrance of the provincial government office, where an image of Syrian President Bashar Assad is riddled with bullets on the facade, in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of Hama, Syria, on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
The body of a government soldier lies on the ground next to a damaged car in the aftermath of opposition fighters' takeover in Hama, Syria, on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Residents leave the city carrying their belongings in Hama, Syria, Friday Dec. 6, 2024.(AP Photo/Omar Albam)
The body of a government soldier lies next to a armoured vehicle in a street in Hama, Syria, Friday Dec. 6, 2024.(AP Photo/Omar Albam)
An opposition fighter fires his AK-47 in the air in celebration in Hama, Syria, Friday Dec. 6, 2024.(AP Photo/Omar Albam)
An opposition fighter walks past the bodies of two government soldiers lying on the ground in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover in Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Residents leave the city carrying their belongings in Hama, Syria, Friday Dec. 6, 2024.(AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Insurgent fighters celebrate in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of the city in downtown Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
An image of Syrian President Bashar Assad, riddled with bullets, is seen on the facade of the provincial government office in the aftermath of the opposition's takeover of Hama, Syria, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Abandoned Syrian army armoured vehicles sit on a road as opposition insurgents control the outskirts of Hama, Syria, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024.(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
