Pacific Report
pp. 5-6 · Read in the full issue
France-Vanuatu aid package signed The governments of France and Vanuatu, following lengthy and often tense negotiations, finally signed an aid and co-operation agreement in Port-Vila on March 10. The agreement provides for French aid equivalent to about 5A6.9 million in 1981. The agreement contains a clause in which each country pledges non interference in the other’s affairs, a clause inserted on the initiative of France, which fears Vanuatu Government support for independence movements in French Pacific territories, especially New Caledonia. On the other hand, the government of Vanuatu pledges in the agreement to protect the well-being and property of French citizens living in the country. Behind-the-scenes moves, believed to have been initiated by the Vanuatu Government, to have Australia pick up the tab so that Vanuatu could dispense with French aid, eventually came to nothing. The aid allocation to Vanuatu is reported to place it among the top half-dozen recipients of French aid on a world scale.
Japan’s N-dump plans latest Micronesian governments and anti-nuclear activists believe they have succeeded in halting for at least this year a plan by the Japanese to dump radioactive waste from their 21 nuclear reactors into the Pacific north of the Marianas. Without public announcement. Japan indicated in February that it had put off its plan to begin experimental dumping this year. In January Japan’s Science and Technology Agency said the bulk of its funds for the Jumping programme for the coming fiscal year would be for further surveys of ocean radio-activity and tests of pressure-proof Jisposal drums. The only other appropriation was one of about 8U5350 000 to finance explanatory films and the travel of science agency officials to Micronesia, presumably for further explanations. Writing in The New York Times, US journalist Henry <amm quotes lawyer Jeffrey A. Cook, chairman of the Marianas Mliance Against Nuclear Dumping, as saying; ‘Clearly, the Japanese have a very strong intention of selling their plan this 'ear. They will invite government leaders to Japan and offer economic aid in return for stopping opposition to dumping.’ Mr :ook quoted an official of STA as saying: ‘We will continue to lave a plan to dump. We did not give up the plan ’
Memorable Ash Wednesday in Hawaii ■or a few minutes on Wednesday March 4 Ash Wednesday in he Christian calendar the headquarters of the US Pacific at Camp Smith, Hawaii, was the cene of an Ash Wednesday religious service held by nine anti tuclear protesters who had somehow managed to get into the Juclear War Policy and Plans Office and put ash crosses on the /alls before holding their service. The group included Monsignor )amel Dever, superintendent of Catholic schools in Hawaii, who xplained his participation as a response to a speech made scently in Japan by Pope John Paul II about the destructive jower of nuclear weapons. Although the protesters were etained by military police for two hours, no action appears to ave been taken against them. A spokesman for the group said e believed the US military was so embarrassed by the ease with mich the group had entered this supposedly most secure part of 18 uA o u hat !t would be unlikel V t 0 P ress charges. The Camp mith Ash Wednesday Liturgy was part of a week of action in upport of a Nuclear-free Pacific which was co-ordinated in sveral countnes. In Fiji the week was observed by the Methodist ■hurch and the YWCA, who combined to present a slide-tape low and discussion evening on the effects of nuclear war and urrent nuclear activities in the Pacific region. The week was also □served in Sydney, Australia (PIM Apr p 10). Helen Hill liscard or? Territories divided oting intentions of the various political groupings in New a led on i a and French Polynesia in the French presidential ection (first round April 26, second round May 10) presented a tore than usually confused picture. In French Polynesia, the main Dnservative party (led by Gaston Flosse) campaigned for the ection of Gaullist candidate Jacques Chirac mayor of Paris and •rrner French prime minister. The majority Autonomist party led / Francis Sanford, on the other hand, recommended a vote for
President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, largely on the strength of a promise of future wider powers for the locally elected government reported to have been made by the president in Paris in March to veteran Autonomist leader and chairman of the Territorial Assembly, John Teariki. The socialist grouping, which won 10% of the vote at the last election, campaigned for Frangois Mitterand, socialist candidate. In New Caledonia, the ruling coalition was divided, with the rightwing party, led by Deputy Jacques Lafleur, campaigning for Chirac, and his centrist coalition partners under Senator Lionel Cherrier supporting Giscard. The Independence Front, which forms the opposition in the Territorial Assembly, supported Mitterand. (See Noumea Notebook 017, Postmark Papeete p 18.) Four new ministers in PNG Cabinet The Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan in March appointed four new ministers to his cabinet. They replaced three ministers who resigned and another who was sacked after they had been obliged to make court appearances (PIM Feb p 5). The new ministers are Silas Atopare (Works and Supply), Yano Belo (Environment and Conservation), Martin Tovadek (Health), and Angmai Bilas (Public Utilities). One of the ministers who resigned, Gabriel Bakani, who held the Minerals and Energy portfolio later had drunk and disorderly charges (which caused his resignation) dismissed by a magistrate in West New Britain. Describing the case as one which the police should not have proceeded with the magistrate ordered that Mr Bakani’s KBO bail be refunded and that the government pay him more than KlOOO for expenses incurred in the case. The Minerals and Energy portfolio is now held by Wiwa Korowi, who had previously held Public Utilities.
W. Samoa health fraud case for court Allegations of fraud affecting Western Samoa’s Health Depart ment (PIM Feb p3l) were ruled out of order as a matter for debate by the Speaker of the country’s legislative assembly in March He said they were the subject of an official inquiry, and therefore to be considered sub judice. Two senior officials of the department Since appeared before a magistrate. The sum of SWS2SO 000 is alleged to have been lost through payments for electrical work by Sonny Industries Ltd Of Western Samoa which was never carried out. Formal court proceedings have been set for July.
Big step forward in Tonga, but...
A dramatic break with tradition has occurred on the Tongan island of Niuafoou in the Vavau group. Tenants of land belonging to the king, the government and the nobles have been given exclusive rights to the 3.3 ha (BV2 acres) traditionally allotted by the government to men over the age of 16. Custom has long dictated that a landlord has the right to demand a share of his tenant s product. The landowner, Baron Tuita, has distributed 426 allotments to men on the island, and has made it plain the product will be all theirs. Tonga-watchers see the development as a highly significant move away from the generally rigid feudal social structures of the kingdom, where more than 90 000 commoners have the same number of representatives in parliament seven as do 33 noble families. ... ‘as you were’ in W. Samoa The parliament of Western Samoa has rejected moves to give the vote to all Samoans 21 years or older. The move would have introduced general suffrage for all Samoans, although only matais, the heads of the extended families, could stand for election. At present the Western Samoa legislative assembly consists of a Speaker and 45 members who are elected by matais. The reform was recommended by a special committee set up by the Western Samoa Council of Deputies headed by Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV, but only two MPs fully supported its recommendations. The report expressed concern that if the present parliamentary system were not changed to suit the times, the issue could be forced on the country’s lawmakers in the future.
Muldoon sees ‘crunch’ ahead for PFL The New Zealand Shipping Corporation and the Columbus Shipping Line had both conducted surveys of the long-term viability of the Pacific Forum Line and both had arrived at the conclusion that the line would break even by the end of next year, according to an April statement by New Zealand Prime Minister Muldoon. However, in the short term, the line was in danger of collapse, he said. The next 18 months would be the crunch . Fiji has announced it does not want to contribute to the line, either directly or from Australian aid (an option offered
members of the line by the Australian Government, which last year said it would cease to contribute directly in support of the line).
Vanuatu chiefs elect their leader Chief Willie Bongmatur of Ambrym was elected president of Vanuatu’s National Council of Chiefs (NCC) at the council’s first meeting held in Port-Vila in March. Chief Bongmatur was voted in by 15 chiefs out of the total of 19 present. The 20th, Isaac Rongreiu of the Torres Group, was absent due to transport problems. Prime Minister Walter Lini addressed the chiefs, stressing the importance of their role as guardians of custom Kava was served at the end of the meeting to ‘bind’ the NCC and the government in a good relationship.
Daiwa in hands of administrator Japan’s High Court in March appointed an administrator for the Daiwa Navigation Company. Daiwa, well known on many Pacific Island runs, has been in financial trouble for several months.
PNG-Vanuatu strain on OPM ‘office’
Papua New Guinea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Noel Levi said in March his country might have to review its relations with Vanuatu ‘following that country’s decision to allow the Free Papua Movement (OPM) to be represented at an office in Port-Vila’.
However, PlM’s inquiry with Port-Vila brought a denial by government spokesman John Beasant that any such office existed.
Tanna trials close, but no amnesty yet Trials of 256 accused in connection with pre-independence troubles on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu, ended in March. The trials spanned two months. An immediate opposition move for the declaration of a general amnesty for convicted persons from throughout the country was defeated in the Representative Assembly, Prime Minister Walter Lini saying that the time was not yet ripe for such a move.
Bikini people sue for SUS4SO million The people of Bikini, Marshall Islands, who were evacuated in 1946 to make way for US nuclear tests, launched a legal action in March suing the USA for the sum of SUS4SO million. They claim that Bikini was twice taken unlawfully in 1946 for atmospheric nuclear tests that lasted 12 years, and in 1979 when it was found that radiation had made the atoll unsafe. The suit was filed in the US Court of Claims by the ruling Bikini Council, and by Senator Henchi Balos, who represents them in the Marshall Islands legislature.
Radio blockbuster on Australia in PNG One of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s most am bitious social history projects, Taim Bilong Masta, offers a sweeping survey of the history of Australian involvement with Papua New Guinea. It consists of 24 radio programmes to be presented in three series of eight. The first series began on one ABC network on April 12, and is being repeated on another network from April 17. It is generally expected that on completion of transmission of the three series in Australia, the ABC will offer them for rebroadcasting by the National Broadcasting Com mission of PNG. < Solomons to have own honours Solomon Islands, with the consent of Queen Elizabeth, has announced a separate system of honours, the first Pacific Island nation to do so. There will be three awards the Star of the Order of the Solomons (ranked fifth in the 72 approved honours): the Cross of the Order of the Solomons (ranked 14th); and the Medal of Solomon Islands (ranked immediately above the QBE).
U.S. businessman on Fiji ‘banned’ list Paul Sandblom, American businessman, has been placed on the Fiji Government list of ‘banned foreigners’. As president of the United Marketing Corporation, Sandblom has been active in efforts to become a major partner in Fiji’s big pine timber project (PIM Mar p 33). Evidence of his links with the Phoenix Foundation of Nevada, USA, which played an active role in support of the attempted Santo secession in Vanuatu, is widely believed in Fiji to be behind the ban.
Barak Sope to go a-roving Barak Sope, former first secretary in Vanuatu’s prime minister’s department, has been appointed the country’s first roving ambassador.
W. Samoa expels New Zealander Murray Drake, a New Zealander, was ordered to quit Western Samoa within 24 hours in late March. Drake, partner in a Western
Samoa law firm and married to a Samoan solicitor, had been in the country for about five years. Prime Minister Tupuola Efi refused to comment on the deportation order. He said: ‘I have my reasons, and they are good reasons.’
PNG Deputy PM accused on land deal Papua New Guinea’s Deputy Prime Minister lambakey Okuk participated in deliberately stealing a coffee plantation from an ill and elderly Australian woman, according to Barry Cohen a Labor MP, speaking in the Australian House of Representatives in March. He said that Mrs M. H. Barker, who had lived in PNG for more than 50 years and whose husband died 14 years ago, ‘had battled for years’ to pay off mortgages on her plantation near Wau. For the past five years she had tried to sell the property to Papua New Guineans at depressed prices caused by government attitudes. She had incurred heavy legal expenses because broken contracts and delaying tactics had continually prevented settlement. In July last year Mr Okuk had contracted to buy the property after a succession of buyers had either defaulted or had been stopped by administrative intervention. Mr Okuk had taken immediate occupation by paying a 10% deposit, K4BOO, and by contracting to pay a monthly occupation fee of K3OO pending settlement. Mrs Barker had moved to Australia, but had received only one occupation fee and no settlement. Mrs Barker had moved to Australia, but had received only one occupation fee and no settlement. Mr Cohen said that because people living near the property had objected to the sale there was still no ministerial approval for transfer. He said he hoped his disclosures of a disgraceful situation would shame the PNG government and Mr Okuk to the point where ‘they will give this woman the last few dollars she is entitled to and has earned’. In Port Moresby later Mr Okuk denied the allegations against him.
He said the monthly occupation fees were paid up to date and full settlement of the capital was to be made by the end of April. 19 Taiwanese fishermen found Nineteen of the 33 Taiwanese fishermen thought to have been lost in a storm at sea off Manua, American Samoa (PIM Apr p 10), have been found. Their boat had been out of radio communi cation during the storm. The other boat, with 14 men on board, remains lost, and those on board are presumed dead. Joseph Theroux.
Vanuatu planes for Solomons register A plan for Papua New Guinea to register Vanuatu aircraft (PIM Apr p 9) has fallen through. Vanuatu has decided instead to use the Solomon Islands register. PNG’s Superintendent for Air Transport Fred Ramos said; The Vanuatu Government appreci ated our assistance, but Solomon Islands is closer to Vanuatu, and it would be much cheaper to register aircraft there until they are able to do it themselves.’ He said flying operations, airworthiness and documentation had to be checked regularly.
Extra technical staff had to be endorsed and placed in Honiara to check out the registration for Vanuatu.
Paul Dijoud in New Caledonia On a visit to New Caledonia in March France’s Secretary of State for Overseas Departments and Territories Paul Dijoud strongly urged the people of the territory to vote for President Giscard d’Estaing in the April-May French presidential poll. He said that if Giscard were ‘placed in difficulty’ in New Caledonia in the first round of voting, then metropolitan Frenchmen would see it as a disavowal of French solidarity and support, while France’s Pacific neighbours would doubt her determination to stay in this part of the world. Mr Dijoud faced demonstrations on the island of Mare in the Loyalty group, where about 100 independence supporters clashed with French gendarmes who used teargas to disperse the demonstration. According to a report in an Australian news paper, among several people who were injured in the clash was the traditional leader of Mare, Chief Naisseline. On neighbouring Lifou Island, Mr Dijoud was also met by demonstrators. Following the incidents, a message of solidarity was sent by the mayor of Erakor, a municipality near Port-Vila, Vanuatu, to Roch Pidjot, leader of the Independence Front and a deputy to the National Assembly in Paris.
Death of Captain Brett Milder The death occurred in April at his home in Currumbin, Queensland, Australia, of Captain Brett Hilder, master mariner, historian and artist. He had only a few days before celebrated his 70th birthday. Captain Hilder’s last published work, The Voyage of Torres, is reviewed on p 47 of this issue. An obituary tribute will appear in PlM’s June issue.