Papua New Guinea begins to dismantle detention center for Australian asylum-seekers and threatens t

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea has
begun dismantling the Australian-run detention center on its territory, threatening to use force if necessary to free it from about 600 men if they refuse to leave voluntarily within two days. For nine days, asylum seekers have been in the center of Manos Island in defiance of attempts by Australia and Papua New Guinea to close it, in what the United Nations calls an "impending humanitarian crisis."

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  Australia announces the deportation of 200 asylum seekers to remote detention centers after their refusal
  
  
  
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  Australian asylum-seekers' detention center in Manos witnesses "humanitarian emergency"
  
  
  

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Asylum seekers fear they will face violent reactions from the islanders if they move to three temporary centers until another step is taken with them, possibly to the United States. The center was closed on Oct. 31 and water and electricity supplies were cut off. 

"You may be seriously ill in these conditions where the sewage is rinsed with rubbish, there is no running water, no electricity, no food," the Immigration and Citizenship Services Department said in a two-page note seen by Reuters. 

"So we advise you to evacuate this compound immediately, and if necessary we may use force to transport those who refuse to move voluntarily, for your safety." 

The center is home to asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iran , Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Syria, and its dependents confirm that they will continue to face closure attempts.

They said their food supplies ran out and that they depended on drinking on rainwater. 

"The workers have already begun to dismantle the center 

," said Behruz Buchani, a Kurdish journalist from Iran who has been held on the Isle of Manus for more than four years, " They are horrified by the threat of displacement but are still determined not to leave Camp " 

The use of force with people who have been suffering for nearly five years is not a solution, if you want to solve this problem, send us to a third safe country." 

Australia used this center on Manos Island and another on Nauru In the Pacific to detain asylum-seekers trying to reach their coasts through smuggling boats, and stresses that those arriving by sea will never enter their territory even if they are found to be entitled to asylum, as this will encourage human traffickers in Asia.[/size]