State of emergency in Vanuatu after ethnic clashes

SYDNEY, Mar 5 (Reuters) A state of emergency has been declared in the capital of the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu after clashes between islanders over claims of witchcraft killed two men and wounded 10 people, police said today.

Some 200 people from Tanna and Ambrym islands clashed in Port Vila on Saturday after the recent death of a woman, married to a Tanna man, was blamed on witchcraft, police Superintendent Willie Ben told Reuters by telephone from Port Vila.

One man was stabbed to death in the initial fighting on the outskirts of Port Villa and another was killed and houses razed in retaliation later on Saturday night.

''A woman was killed a few weeks ago and some people blamed it on witchcraft,'' said Ben. ''Ethnic fighting broke out on Saturday ... and two people died and another 10 were injured.'' Police said Port Vila had been quiet since the fighting on Saturday and 140 people had been arrested.

A state of emergency covering the capital was declared by the president late yesterday and will continue for two weeks, banning any public assemblies, said police.

''At the moment we do not impose a curfew or road checks but that will depend on the situation,'' said Ben.

Vanuatu's National Council of Chiefs said the government overreacted in declaring a state of emergency.

''The State of Emergency is like preparing for a cyclone that has already passed,'' the council's secretary general, Selwyn Garu, told reporters today.

''The State of Emergency thing will affect the country -- I mean, tourism -- for really no good reason at all. If you come to Port Vila now, it's peaceful, as if nothing has happened in the last few days.'' Vanuatu, with a population of around 200,000 people, comprises more than 80 mountainous islands and lies about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to Australia.

REUTERS PDM DS1550