PNG's SOMARE STEPS DOWN
Papua New Guinea's long-standing prime minister, Michael Somare, has temporarily stood down from his job to fight misconduct charges after a week of political turmoil in the resource-rich Pacific nation.Somare issued a brief statement today, saying he had voluntarily stepped aside so a tribunal could hear misconduct charges alleging he had failed to lodge annual financial statements during the 1990s.The move follows a cabinet reshuffle a week ago, and a court ruling that parliament must sit by late January to properly re-appoint the country's governor-general, Paulius Matane.
The political uncertainty is not expected to affect mining or exploration activities, and comes less than a fortnight after Somare led a mining seminar in Australia to promote foreign investment in his country's resources sector. Somare last week dumped his deputy prime minister, Don Poyle, in favour of close ally and foreign minister Sam Abal, who will now fill in as prime minister and hand the job back to Somare if he is cleared of the charges.
When parliament reconvenes, Somare could face a possible no-confidence motion mounted by opposition lawmakers.Papua New Guinea is a mineral rich Pacific Islands nation of around 6.3 million people, with reserves of gold, copper, oil and gas. But it has struggled to exploit its resources due to corruption, land ownership issues and poor infrastructure. Somare, 74, has been prime minister for eight years.
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