Manus asylum seekers 'threatened with machetes' outside camp

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/28/manus-asylum-seekers-machete-threat

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Asylum seekers on Manus Island have been threatened by locals with machetes outside the detention centre, according to a Manus source speaking directly to Guardian Australia.

The asylum seekers were being taken outside the compound for recreation on Tuesday when a small group of locals approached and threatened them, the source said. The asylum seekers fled back to the compound, and were not harmed.

Reports have been circulating since Tuesday about the incident, which raises further concerns about the centre following the release of a report into the unrest in February that led to dozens of serious injuries for asylum seekers and the death of the Iranian Reza Barati.

“All of them are traumatised and anxious,” the source said, “they are crying now. Who wants to guarantee ... safety?”

The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, acknowledged that a “a low-level non-physical exchange” had occurred during an excursion “between a transferee [asylum seeker] and a local resident” but said that reports had been “exaggerated and over-dramatised”.

“The minister was not advised this incident was of concern,” a spokeswoman said, “over-dramatising these events is not helpful in the ongoing management of the Manus Island centre.”

On Monday, Morrison said guarantees of safety were “difficult to provide”, as he released a government-commissioned review led by Robert Cornall into February’s unrest. “They [guarantees] certainly should be an aspiration and objective of the government to the extent that we have a role in providing that,” he said.

Cornall’s report found that no single party was directly to blame for the two nights of violence that led to Barati’s death.

On Tuesday, Papua New Guinean MP Ronnie Knight said he believed racial tensions at the centre had eased.