PORT MORESBY, May 18 (AFP) - Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare sacked seven of his 15 ministers Tuesday in a major cabinet reshuffle aimed at preventing the collapse of his government after less than two years in power.
Deputy Prime Minister Moses Maladina was the most senior victim of the shake-up, which also saw Somare dump the party of parliamentary speaker Bill Skate from the coalition that has led the troubled Pacific nation since August 2002.
Somare, 68, who led PNG to independence from Australia in 1975, named eight mostly young members of parliament to his cabinet.
Maladina and another sacked official, Public Service Minister Peter O'Neil of Skate's People's National Congress (PNC), had both reportedly been plotting to replace Somare in a coalition revolt.
The latest upheaval in PNG's notoriously unstable political world was sparked by Somare's attempt to extend a constitutional moratorium on votes of no confidence against government from 18 months to three years.
The bid to protect his government from ouster until mid-2005 split Somare's coalition and could still lead to the government's downfall when the issue comes before parliament later this week.
O'Neil reaffirmed his opposition to the measure Tuesday as political analysts predicted more defections from Somare's nine-party coalition.
"PNC does not believe the proposed constitutional change in relation to the vote of no confidence in the prime minister is in the national interest at this time," O'Neil said.
But Somare's defended the reshuffle as needed to protect PNG's fragile stability and vowed to complete his government's five-year term of office.
"I want to assure the people of Papua New Guinea, the international community and national and international investors that our country is in good hands," he said.
"The coalition partners are committed to serve this government term through to 2007. I want our international friends to know, in no uncertain terms, that our country is not a failed or a failing state," he said.
Somare's National Alliance Party holds just 24 seats in the 109-member parliament, but his position was strengthened last week when the main opposition party led by the previous prime minister, Mekere Morata, decided to back the government.
No government has survived a full five-year term in the tribal-based PNG political system, with votes of no confidence in the prime minister commonplace.
Parliament resumes Thursday and in addition to the issue of Somare's grace period must tackle a controversial plan to deploy some 300 Australian police and civil servants in PNG to spearhead a major drive against rampant crime and corruption.
PNG, a nation of some 4.2 million people speaking 800 different languages, has been struggling with economic recession, widespread crime and the worst rate of HIV/AIDS infections in the region.
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