PNG people seek compensation
4/7/08
The Papua New Guinea people to first experience major contact by Europeans want compensation from Australia and Britain for what they say was more than a century of colonial neglect. New president of the Motu Koita people, Miria Ikupu, made the historic claim to PNG’s former colonial masters, along with PNG’s present government, in his first address as leader today. Ikupu said his 45,000 people, who inhabit PNG’s east coast in and around the capital of Port Moresby, have not seen one cent from successive administrations despite continued promises, the first from Queen Victoria. “The Motu Koita people, who are the original inhabitants and owners of Port Moresby City, have been denied and neglected from their land rights and the benefits,” he told AAP. “The former British and Australian colonial administrations forcefully took our land and built the now city of Port Moresby.
See; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23968054-16953,00.html
Tags: PNG, Reconciliation