Papua New Guinea fumes over Biden's remark of country's cannibals 'eating' his uncle

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has said that it is wrong to impose a 'cannibalism' label on his country and appealed to the United States to clear up World War II's remnants which are littered across the Pacific, after President Joe Biden spoke about his missing serviceman uncle being eaten by cannibals.

Biden had "appeared to imply his uncle was eaten by cannibals after his plane was shot down over PNG during WWII", said Marape's office, in a statement late on Sunday (April 21).

"President Biden's remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labelled as such," said Marape, in the statement.

"I urge President Biden to get the White House to look into cleaning up these remains of WWII so the truth about missing servicemen like Ambrose Finnegan can be put to rest," he added.

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A defence cooperation agreement was signed by the United States with Papua New Guinea last year. Earlier, Biden spoke about his personal connection with Papua New Guinea's wartime history and remembered his uncle who died in a plane crash in May 1944.

What did Biden say about cannibalism in Papua New Guinea?

United States President Biden took the world by surprise and left the White House in the lurch after claiming that his uncle was most likely eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during World War II.

Eight-one-year-old Biden said that his uncle's plane was shot down over Papua New Guinea during World War II. He further emphasised how this place is known for cannibals.

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“My uncle, they called him – Ambrose, they called him Bosie, and he became an Army Air Corps, before the Air Force came along, he flew those single-engine planes as a reconnaissance over war zones. And he got shot down in New Guinea, and they never found the body because there used to be a lot of cannibals – for real – in that part of New Guinea,” said the president.

Clarifying Biden's statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday (April 18) accepted that Finnegan died after his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean amid World War II, which implied that he was not eaten by cannibals.

(With inputs from agencies)