PORT MORESBY - Dozens of African mercenaries hired by Papua New Guinea to put down an island rebellion went home yesterday.
As police clamped down on fresh unrest, about 50 mercenaries flew out of the capital, Port Moresby, expelled by the soldiers they were meant to have fought alongside.
Australia, the country's former colonial ruler, said it had put its troops on increased readiness in case the crisis worsened. Australian radio said that among the departing mercenaries was retired British colonel Tim Spicer, a former senior UN peace-keeper in Bosnia who is now chief executive of the British military consultancy Sandline International.
On the fifth day of the crisis, protests spread to the country's main university and to the provinces.
The crisis, the worst in PNG's 22-year history as an independent nation, began on Monday when army chief Brigadier General Jerry Singirok demanded that the Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan, quit over his hiring of Mr Spicer's mercenaries to put down an uprising on Bougainville island. Brig Singirok was promptly sacked but still commands the loyalty of the army rank-and-file.