Dozens of African mercenaries hired by Papua New Guinea to put down an island rebellion headed home on Friday, leaving behind them a nation in turmoil and a standoff between army and government.
As police clamped down on fresh unrest, about 50 mercenaries flew out of Port Moresby - expelled by the soldiers they were meant to have fought alongside.The crisis kept Papua New Guinea's neighbors on guard. Australia, the country's former colonial ruler, said it had put its troops on increased readiness in case the crisis worsened.
Australian radio said that among the departing mercenaries was retired British colonel Tim Spicer, a former senior U.N. peacekeeper in Bosnia who is now chief executive of British military consultancy Sandline International.
"They wanted to go home. As far as they are concerned the adventure is over for them," said Major Walter Enuma, the soldier in charge of expelling the mercenaries.
One protester at the airport held up a banner saying: "Tim Spicer you murderer, get out of my country."
On the fifth day of the crisis, protests spread to the country's main university and to the provinces, although police managed to prevent any street violence in the capital after dozens were injured in looting raids on previous days.
Local radio reported that rioting had spread outside the capital on Friday, with police firing tear gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators in the northern town of Lae.
The crisis, the worst in PNG's 22-year history as an independent nation, began on Monday when army chief Brigadier-General Jerry Singirok demanded that Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan quit over his hiring of Spicer's mercenaries to put down an uprising on Bougainville island.
Singirok was promptly sacked but still commands the loyalty of the army rank-and-file and most officers. He has coolly kept up the pressure on Chan while urging his supporters not to join in the unrest and clash with the police.
Chan and the government retain the loyalty of the police, whose rivalry with the army dates back to before PNG gained independence from Australia in 1975.