Australian immigration camp on Papua New Guinea loses power

SYDNEY (AP) — The 606 men refusing to leave an Australian immigration camp in Papua New Guinea were without power and many of their toilets on Wednesday morning after a nervous first night following the facility's closure.

The camp inside a Manus Island navy base was declared closed Tuesday afternoon based on the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court's ruling last year that Australia's policy of detaining asylum seekers there was illegal and unconstitutional. But the men who've stayed at the camp on Lombrun Navy Base fear for their safety in the alternative shelters available because of threats from locals.

The Sydney-based Refugee Action Coalition said the removal of electricity generators Wednesday morning left the camp without power, including toilets that operate on electrical pumps. They still have tap water, though the coalition says it isn't drinkable.

An Iranian man living there, Behrouz Boochani, tweeted: "They took generators this morning. There is not power in whole centre. The toilets do not work. All refugees woke up again in fear."

The coalition has applied to the court for an injunction stopping the closure of the camp. Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said the first night without security staff guarding the residents had at least passed peacefully.

"The men are sitting tight for the moment," Rintoul told The Associated Press. "The situation isn't great, but at least there were no attacks during the night."

Rintoul said some locals brought food and drinking water to the perimeter fence, some selling it to the men, others donating it.

Papua New Guinea officials have said the facility would be returned to defense forces on Wednesday and anyone remaining would be considered to be trespassing on a military base.

For four years, Australia has paid Papua New Guinea, its nearest neighbor, and the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru to house asylum seekers who attempt to reach the Australian coast by boat. They are Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, Afghans, Iranians, Sri Lankans and other nationalities.

Australia has recognized many of the asylum seekers are refugees who cannot return to their homelands, but it refuses to resettle anyone who tried to reach the country by boat in a policy it credits with dissuading such dangerous ocean crossings. Some whose refugee claims were denied have been forcibly sent home.

But Australia and Papua New Guinea still disagree on who has responsibility for those Australia has recognized as refugees yet won't accept on its own soil.

The United States has resettled 54 of them in recent weeks and is considering taking almost 1,200 more.

The men are free to come and go from the Manus Island camp, which is no longer a detention center since the court ruling, but they've reported robberies and violence directed at them when they go into the community.

Of the 606 men, some 440 have been deemed to be legitimate refugees, while the remainder are categorized as non-refugees, including around 50 who have refused to cooperate with the determination process as they say they were unlawfully transferred to Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea authorities have deployed extra police to the town of Lorengau where the three new housing centers are located. A protest of about 100 people earlier this week demanded Australia take back the men and they not live in the community.