The Secretary-General of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Octo Mote. Photo: RNZI / Koroi Hawkins
Reports from Papua New Guinea indicate the secretary-general of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua has been refused entry to PNG.
Octo Mote had planned to enter PNG to prepare for an upcoming Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders summit.
The MSG summit was due this week but was postponed amid a busy schedule for PNG which is this week already hosting a summit of the EU's African, Carribean and Pacific group.
Another representative of the Liberation Movement, its international spokesman Benny Wenda, has been denied entry to PNG recently, with local officials blaming it on technical problems around his visa.
It's not yet known why Octo Mote is also being refused entry, however he has been travelling widely around the Pacific Islands region in the past year.
The Liberation Movement has observer status at the MSG and has applied for full membership in the group, with a decision expected to be made at the upcoming summit.