Papua New Guinean defence forces will take no “arbitrary action” against the men who refuse to leave the detention centre inside Lombrum naval base, its commanding officer has said.

But the base’s commanding officer, Begsy Karaki, said the group would be forcefully removed if necessary.

The Australian-run detention centre closed on Tuesday evening. Refugees and asylum seekers were ordered to move to alternative accommodation units built in the nearby town of Lorengau but they refused, citing fears for their safety outside the compound.

Karaki told the Post-Courier and confirmed to the Guardian the men were still under the care of the PNG immigration office and Australia, and his officers would not take action against them unless instructed to by headquarters.

He said there was “no threat” or panic. “This is Australia’s problem now being brought in here, and we are getting blamed for issues we did not create,” Karaki said.

“We cannot get involved, we have no say in this, but because they are placed here at our military camp, we hope there are some solutions quickly, so we carry on with our duties and tasks.”

Lawyers acting for the men are seeking to have a legal application heard before the PNG supreme court. The application alleges the men’s human rights – as protected by PNG’s constitution – are being breached.

The Guardian understands there are also attempts to meet with PNG government lawyers to find a resolution to the current standoff.

It is hoped a meeting between the two parties would find a mutually agreeable outcome, which ends the impasse peacefully and restores shelter, food and security to the detainees within the next day or two until a more long-term plan is developed.

The acting chief migration officer, Solomon Kantha, said the men were free to leave the centre but anyone who did would not be allowed to return. Buses for people who volunteered to leave had been on standby since Wednesday morning, he told the Post-Courier.

In an apparent move to address the detainees’ main concerns about safety in the new accommodation, Kantha said he was speaking with contractors about installing fences and security at the new sites, and was exploring curfew options. “Manus is a peaceful place but we have to have these measures in place.”

About 600 men remain in the detention centre after two nights without electricity, food or water. They collected some rainwater and, overnight on Wednesday, some of them dug a well.

“They were digging for hours and finally found water,” reported the Kurdish Iranian journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani. “I don’t know if this water is clean enough to drink or not, but the refugees are drinking from it.”

Boochani said the men were supporting each other but the health of many was deteriorating, including an epileptic man who experienced a medical incident, one man who self-harmed, and two others who had infections.

“We are asking international organisations like Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders to take action and help us,” he said.

“This is not a hunger strike. It is a situation that the Australian government has created, forcing people into starvation and these harsh conditions by refusing to offer a safe place for resettlement.”

A water-collection system built by detainees inside the centre. Photograph: Reuters

The PNG and Australian governments are also in a standoff, as Australia refers all queries and responsibilities to PNG, but PNG maintains it has fulfilled its processing and resettlement obligations. The remaining refugees and unsuccessful asylum seekers are for Australia to deal with, it says.

Kantha said he had urgently requested a meeting with Australian government officials to discuss “a clear way forward”.

A longstanding offer by New Zealand to take 150 refugees from Australia’s offshore processing centres has resurfaced, after the country’s newly elected prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, revealed she would raise the issue when she meets Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday.

“I think anyone would look at a situation like that and see the human face of what is an issue that New Zealand is in the lucky position of not having to struggle with, [as] Australia has,” Ardern said on Thursday.

“I am looking forward, though, to having a conversation directly with the prime minister on Sunday about some of those issues – and New Zealand’s role and view on Manus Island in particular.”

The refugees and asylum seekers have repeatedly said they are not safe in the Lorengau community. Attacks by locals have been detailed by Human Rights Watch, including violent robberies by groups of men wielding knives and other weapons.

But the detainees also have support among Manusians. Hundreds attended a protest and signed a petition calling on the Australian government to respect human rights and resettle the refugees rather than leave them in PNG.

Boochani said he appreciated the locals’ protest. “Local fear is logical because their small community has not this capacity to accept 600 foreign men and if the government sends the refugees into the communities, it will be dangerous and we will see conflict between locals and refugees.”

Ron Knight, a former MP for Manus province, said local people’s main grievance was with the Australian government, not the refugees and asylum seekers.

“The perceptions is they’re quite disappointed with Australia for creating the mess in the first place,” Knight told the Guardian. “They can’t understand how a country can abandon people like that.”

But Knight added that Manusians were “adamant” they didn’t want the refugees living in their community, citing criminal allegations ranging from minor offences to sexual assault, and sexual relationships with local women resulting in pregnancies.

He said most of the men now holed up in the centre rarely came to town but locals were fearful of what would happen when 600 more men joined the Lorengau community.

“On the other side we have the asylum seekers – I’ve heard horror stories,” Knight said. “Some have been chopped up by idiots, attacked.

“We don’t know the cause, some are spontaneous, some have reasons. They don’t want to come here either, they want to live somewhere safe.”

Knight suggested that an expanded and “beefed up” East Lorengau transit centre, which is fenced in and next door to a medical clinic but now only has capacity for about 300 people, could provide a solution.

He said fears the 600 would be attacked were unnecessary. “The issue is with the authorities, not with the asylum seekers.”

The Australian immigration minister, Peter Dutton, accused refugee advocates of encouraging the men to stand their ground.

“I want to close Manus Island as quickly as possible,” he told Channel Nine. “It doesn’t help when you have got the Greens telling people not to engage and move. It makes a difficult situation even worse.”

Boochani denied Dutton’s claims. “Peter Dutton can’t blame advocates who support innocent people in Manus. Refugees themselves are fighting for their rights.”

Dutton’s office has been contacted for comment.

The United Nations refugee agency said it is Australia’s responsibility to stop the “humanitarian emergency” emerging on Manus.

The UNHCR, which has staff on the ground in Manus, said there was not sufficient accommodation for the men from the Lombrum base to move to, and construction of planned new housing has been hampered by rain.



“If all 600 individuals were to leave immediately, many would not find adequate or sufficient accommodation elsewhere,” a UNHCR spokeswoman said. “There is no security fence at West Lorengau Haus or Hillside Haus in the Ward 1 area of Lorengau. UNHCR observed on 30 October that construction of West Lorengau Haus is incomplete. Containers are surrounded by mud and do not have electrical or water connections as yet.”



The situation on Manus is “increasingly tense and unstable”.

