Inside Manus Island: refugees are terrfied of leaving detention centre
THEY are desperate for food and medicine. But the asylum seekers who have barricaded themselves inside the detention centre are terrified of leaving.
National
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THE men in the bright yellow singlets and dark sunglasses gave us the finger.
They crouched low in the boat seeking to hide their faces from being photographed and gestured violently behind their backs as their craft burst from the secluded cove on Manus Island’s north east coast.
But then they turned and suddenly urged their boatman to head in to shore.
A large well muscled young man leapt out and walked over with a worried look on his face.
“Who are you, my friend? Are you government?’’ he asked in a wary voice that immediately confirmed him as an asylum seeker.
When I explained we were journalist and photographer, he offered his hand and said Please you come with us to see the centre — an invitation we immediately accepted.
For two days News Corp had sought to visit the shut down detention centre but had been turned away from the gates of the Lombrum Naval Base which encompasses the Australian built complex on the tiny Papua New Guinea island.
The reasoning behind the ban was not clear with PNG Defence Force soldiers manning the front gate stating they would allow only Immigration officials, police, military or “the Greenpeace politician” (Greens Senator) Stephen McKim entry to the complex.
The vacuum of no independent media coverage of the centre had been filled by news from the social media feeds of the asylum seekers and contained claims of horrific conditions inside the centre.
The reports emphasised that nearly 600 men were barricaded inside, running out of water, had no food or medicine and did not wish to leave for fear their security could not be guaranteed in other accommodation on the island.
Now it emerged a small group of the asylum seekers from the centre had mounted their own lightning raid via boat to try snaffle vital supplies from the Manus capital Lorengau.
The man who invited us on the boat, Ezatullah Kakar was known as a kickboxing champion incarcerated in the centre and said he and his four friends had made the decision to make a lightening raid to get some food and medicines from town because “so many (refugees) are sick and hungry” inside the centre
“They are desperate. We have to do something,’’ he said.
Kakar said when they saw us taking their photos on the boat, they thought we were government and they would be arrested.
He showed us a package of medicine mostly painkillers he had bought and under the tarpaulin on the boat were about three boxes of food.
When the boat pulled up on the beach behind the centre, dozens of asylum seekers rushed out into the ocean. Some wore pyjamas, others singlets and shorts and most looked happy.
But inside the centre, there was significant hardship and a mood of desperation.
Some of the men were suffering from mental problems, tugging constantly at us begging for medicine. Others demanded we sight their cramped sleeping quarters nearly crying and clutched at us hoping we would take their picture or hear their story.
And inside their sleeping quarters the heat was so oppressive — unbearable after just a few minutes.
In places the refugees had torn open the walls to let in air but with the air came the mosquitoes they said.
By my side the whole time was Hussein a Rohingya refugee who brandished a referral to the doctor for severe asthma.
“Please take this. It shows I need medial attention,’’ he begged.
Asked why he stayed, he said: “I’m afraid. No security.”
Next to Hussein was a wild haired middle aged man who said his name was Goto Aslam.
“Please I have mental problems. I need medication. My tablets have run out’’ he constantly intoned.
Like many of the men interviewed both had been in the same camp for years and seemed horrified at the idea of leaving.
Many said they had not been outside the camp since they arrived years earlier and appeared almost hysterical about leaving now.
Some had visible injuries like Abdullah Azradawi, 26, who was suffering from a serious eye condition.
An insect bite, he thought had made his eye swell but he did not wish to leave the camp. Again the reason he said was lack of security.
In another section of the camp, the men had dug a makeshift well from which they lowered buckets but the colour of the filthy water hinted at the motivation behind Kakar’s raid to the town to get supplies.
Outside the camp it its common knowledge some of the locals who live on the naval base are allowing the men to access their water tanks.
Kakar’s said his motivation to get supplies was because they did not want anyone to die.
Asked about half a dozen men who had left the camp since it was closed, he said they were starving and sick.
He said he had been in the camp for four years and was beyond frustrated.
“But we are not going to leave,’’ he said.
Others were more desperate.
Said one, as we were hustled back to the boat amid reports the police were coming, “Please take us anywhere from this place.
“We don’t need to go to Australia. Just anywhere where it’s safe,” he demanded holding my arm tightly.
The Immigration Department says 587 men remain in the closed detention centre.