There are concerns in Vanuatu that a group set up by the government to assist the Vanuatu Mobile Force is refusing to disband.
The government's spokesman, Daniel Bangtor, has confirmed that the group of young men from the island of Tanna, who now live near Port Vila airport, were employed and given training to assist the VMF.
Mr Bangtor says the group, which was unarmed, was employed for ten days two months ago when the VMF was involved in arresting a number of officers on mutiny charges.
The VMF was instructed to disband the group after the council of chiefs called a customary reconciliation, but it remains together though is no longer sanctioned by the government or the VMF.
The spokesperson for Transparency International in Vanuatu, Marie-Noelle Ferrieux-Patterson, says the difficulty in disbanding the group has people drawing comparisons with the divisions in Solomon Islands.
"A big group from one island and that is resented by the rest of the main island, and that is Efate, which can lead to big trouble. And I think that's what the chiefs were afraid of and that's what the communities and even myself expressed concern about."
Marie-Noelle Ferrieux-Patterson.
