Resource-rich Papua New Guinea's governor general Wednesday swore in the government of Sir Michael Somare, but his rival refused to back down in a tense standoff as a huge earthquake rattled nerves.
"Despite the events of the last couple of days I am confident that common sense will prevail," Somare, who has led the sprawling and often violent country for almost half of its 36 years of independence, said in a statement.
Both Somare, 75, and younger challenger Peter O'Neill, 46, claim to be the legitimate leader of the Pacific island nation in a highly charged impasse that threatens to spill into chaos.
A violent 7.1-magnitude earthquake also shook buildings and swayed power lines in the capital Wednesday, although no significant damage was reported.
Impoverished PNG has been struggling to throw off its reputation as a politically dysfunctional and often lawless nation with a resources boom in the pipeline, but events of the past days have done little to alter the impression.
While there has not been major unrest, O'Neill and his ministers stormed a barricade manned by armed police at Government House Tuesday to force a meeting with Governor General Michael Ogio, but the talks failed to reach a resolution.
Somare was reinstated as leader on Monday when the Supreme Court ruled O'Neill's election to the post by fellow lawmakers in August was unconstitutional.
But parliamentary speaker Jeffery Nape said during an emergency sitting of the legislature Tuesday that he would only recognise O'Neill's government, which was installed when Somare was incapacitated by illness.
The O'Neill faction seems determined to stand its ground in what is the country's worst constitutional crisis since gaining independence in 1975.
As the governor general anointed the Somare government, MPs loyal to O'Neill passed a motion demanding Ogio come to parliament to swear him in again as leader.
Ogio is the representative in Papua New Guinea of Queen Elizabeth II, who is the Commonwealth country's head of state.
O'Neill's supporters also introduced a bill requiring police to "assist" the governor general in getting to parliament, Australian Associated Press reported.
But Ogio did not appear by late in the day, leaving the country in deadlock.
Somare said the decision of the governor general should be respected.
"It is important that we have another 36 years and more of stability by recognising and respecting the different arms of government, the judiciary, the legislature and the executive," he said.
The centrepiece of PNG's resources developments is a Aus$15 billion liquefied natural gas project led by US major ExxonMobil.
James Wilson, senior resource analyst at RBS Morgans in Perth, said mining firms doing business in the country would be wary, but not overly worried, by the crisis.
"The resources companies will be watching closely but the government, whoever is in power, wouldn't want to risk these big projects," he said.
"PNG needs the foreign investment and I generally don't see any major issues, although some fresh investments may stall."
Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said he expected the controversy to be resolved peacefully, and ruled out any possible intervention from Canberra.
"We want to see these matters resolved in accordance with PNG's constitution," he said.
