BY SEAN HEALY
At least a dozen students at the University of Papua New Guinea in the capital, Port Moresby, have launched a hunger strike to demand the removal from the country of representatives of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
The students, who began their action on July 31, are also angry at attempts by the government and the university administration to blame the UPNG Student Representative Council for the police killings of six people during the night of June 25, according to Andrew Stanton, a Sydney-based human rights campaigner in contact with the students.
The UPNG administration has sought to defund the student union, claiming that it has breached its constitution, but student representatives believe that it is just an attempt to undermine students' morale and weaken the SRC, which was at the forefront of the June protests.
Students' campaigning has been directed primarily at a privatisation program mandated by the World Bank and IMF and backed by the Australian government, which will result in the sell-off of up to 70% of government assets, including the PNG Banking Corporation and Air Niugini.
On June 20, they begin a five-day sit-in outside the offices of the Prime Minister, Sir Makere Morauta, to demand an end to the plan and the withdrawal of IMF and World Bank representatives from the country.
On the night of June 25, the students were attacked by riot police, who chased them back to the UPNG campus. Six people, including four students, were shot dead by police, sparking days of rioting by locals, a national strike by the Trade Union Congress and a two-week dawn-to-dusk curfew.
Morauta expressed regret at the killings and promised an inquiry into them, but the inquiry is not due to begin until later this month. Doubts have already been cast over its impartiality, including by SRC representatives and Amnesty International.
Meanwhile, government and police officials have sought to shift responsibility for the killings onto the SRC, the organiser of the students' protests. The relatives of the dead students are now demanding compensation not just from the government but from the student union as well. If successful, the financial claims will likely cripple the body.