8 Nov 2002

Arrest imminent of PNG gunman in car shootings

12:01 pm on 8 November 2002

Members of a squatter settlement in the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby have been urged to hand over a man who last week shot at cars belonging to two high profile politicians.

In the first shooting at an intersection on Two Mile Hill road, the body guard of speaker Bill Skate was hurt, while 20 minutes later Cabinet Minister Sir Moi Avei's daughter was shot in the abdomen.

The Minister of Welfare and Social Development Lady Carol Kidu, whose electorate includes the settlement involved, has rejected claims that the attacks were attempted assassinations.

She says they were indiscriminate shootings with robbery in mind.

Lady Carol says she expects the man to be handed over today. She says the community must accept some responsibility because police are under-resourced.

"We've got to allow communities to take more control of their own law and order problems. You have to strengthen the communities' governance issues because the police are completely understaffed and underfunded and they cannot cope with the situations they are expected to cope with, so we need to find ways by which we can give some of the responsibility back to communities"