Pacific Report

French Policy Is Forum Target

Held in Port-Vila in August, the 12th meeting of the South Pacific Forum launched an attack on France’s colonial policy in the South Pacific which will have wide repercussions. The meeting agreed to send a mission to Paris led by Fiji Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to see President Mitterrand. Aim of the mission is to put pressure on France to decolonize her Pacific territories. Vanuatu led the attack in the Forum, arguing that there would be serious bloodshed in neighbouring New Caledonia unless its neighbours began moving now to attempt to change France’s attitude. Vanuatu Prime Minister Father Walter Lini said four people had already died violent deaths in New Caledonia this /ear, and there could be more deaths of Melanesians at the lands of French settlers by the end of the year. PlM’s man at the conference, Stuart Inder, says Forum leaders saw New Caledonia, not French Polynesia, as the threat to peace in the area, and their decision is the beginning of a sustained campaign 0 win self-government or independence for New Caledonia. The r orum delegation may not go to Paris until next year. Other Jecisions by the Forum leaders were: 1) A protest to Japan, : rance and the United States against nuclear testing, or nuclear vaste dumping, in the Pacific. 2) Rejection of a Soviet move to >perate a marine survey cruise in Solomons and Vanuatu waters.

I) Approval in principle of the establishment of a Pacific Islands •und to help smaller countries. 4) Relegation to the ‘too-hard >asket’ of a Papua New Guinea proposal to have a Pacific Islands egional security force. 5) Postponement, yet again, of a decision bout whether the South Pacific Commission and the South ’acific Bureau of Economic Co-operation (SPEC) should be malgamated. Next year’s Forum meeting will be held in Tuvalu

Irst N-Blast Of Mitterrand Presidency

ranee exploded a nuclear weapon underground at Moruroa Toll, French Polynesia, in August. It was the first test since resident Mitterrand’s election on May 10. An official of the rench Defence Ministry said it was carried out ‘within the frame 'ork of France’s policy of defence’.

FTER SAMOA STRIKE, A NEW POLITICAL BALLGAME 1 a massive analysis of Western Samoa’s public service strike ■TM Aug pl 5 ) appearing over eight pages in the government swspaper Savali in July. Pati Puaopepe writes: ‘Before the strike e appeared to possess only two political groups: Tupuola Efi id his supporters (Malo), and Vaai Kolone and the Human ights Protection Party (the informal Opposition). The strike has tered that equation, radically. The situation is now more )mplex and fluid, anything can happen ... Who knows, maybe jr next Prime Minister is not even an MP or influential in politics )ht now. The strike has even made that a possibility. What we 3 know definitely about our next elections is that they will be ugh, closely fought, perhaps far more bitter than our last ones - the truly spectacular event that most of us, now hooked on )wer games, expect.’ The writer said that if the present Prime mister Tupuola Efi stood unsuccessfully for re-election, or even ie decided not to stand at all, he would still be one of the most rluential men in determining who his successor would be The tide was entitled; ‘Our First Strike; A Foreign Invention Which jeame Samoan Overnight?’

Jl Churchmen Criticise Sinai Decision

i church officials have asked if Fiji will become entangled with sSted’ American interests in agreeing to supply troops for a force to be posted to the Sinai Desert in the ddle East (PIM Aug p 5). They say that the Fiji Government cision to supply 600 men for the force had been taken ‘with irming speed’. The officials represent the social issues mnmttee of the Methodist Department of Christian Citizenship d Social Service, and the secretariat of the Pacific Conference Churches. A circular prepared by the churches recalls that vernment leaders had spoken of the force ‘providing 600 jobs’ d adds. We suggest that the economic argument is an tremely bad way through which to approach this question. We j informed that the recruiting will be done in rural areas By and ge the unemployment problem is an urban problem. Why then we have to go and recruit in the villages?’ The circular’notes

that last year Fiji refused to send men to Vanuatu except as part of a United Nations force. ‘We are troubled by the fact that the Sinai peace-keeping force is not under the United Nations,’ the churchmen say. ‘We are also troubled by the fact that we seem less concerned about Melanesia than we are about the Sinai.’

They ask what a clear and direct military connection with the United States would mean for Fiji’s Pacific identity and role, ‘particularly in the light of the growing US interest and power in the southwest Pacific.’

Strike By Vanuatu Public Servants

Following Western Samoa’s public service strike, it was Vanuatu’s turn in August. In a clear attempt to achieve Pacific wide publicity for their action, the public servants struck while leaders of all South Pacific Forum countries were in Port-Vila for the 12th meeting of the Forum. Strikers’ demands: a wage increase, faster integration of the Public Service (there are still remnants of the cumbersome old condominium system about the service), setting up of a social security scheme, and stronger control over political appointees to the service. Also at issue is a widespread resentment among ni-Vanuatu public servants at the fairly large number of expatriates still in the service. This is widely seen as blocking promotion opportunities for experienced ni- Vanuatu personnel. The Vanuatu strike repeats a pattern established last year when Kiribati public servants went on strike while the Forum was meeting in Tarawa. It is probable that the Vanuatu tactics were inspired by the action of their counterparts in Kiribati, and equally probable that they were discussed at the meeting of Pacific trade unions held in Port-Vila earlier this year (PIM Jul p 5).

Caledonian Independence ‘In The ’Bos’?

Australian journalist David McNicoll, reporting in the Sydney weekly magazine The Bulletin on a recent 10-day visit to New Caledonia, says ‘independentist’ leader Vann Uregei told him ‘there would not be violence, but increasing pressure’ if independence was denied to the territory. Replying to McNicoll’s question as to whether he saw independence being granted in the next 20 years, Uregei replied: ‘I see it in the 1980 s, possibly within four years.’

STREET ON AUSTRALIA IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC Australia’s growing interest in the South Pacific region reflects a concern about the danger to the Western alliance if, through default on the part of countries with direct interests in the region, ‘other powers’, less favourably disposed to the West, moved into the vacuum, said Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Tony Street in August. He was speaking before his departure on a visit to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, where he was to attend the 12th meeting of the South Pacific Forum. ‘Australia,’ he said, ‘is not a global power but a middle power. It has to look at its priorities. And it is not unreasonable that these should be Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. The South Pacific provides particular problems, in the widely-scattered nature of the Island states, and their relatively small populations.

But events in World War II proved that this is an area of potentially great strategic significance.’

Samoa Citizenship Issue For Privy Council

A citizenship issue affecting about three-quarters of the population of Western Samoa is to be debated before the Privy Council in London. It is: Are Western Samoans New Zealand citizens by virtue of New Zealand’s control of the territory up to independence in 1962? The question has direct relevance to nearly 100 Samoans already before New Zealand courts on charges of overstaying their residence permits. In the past, several thousand have been convicted and deported on similar charges. In a series of hearings from the lower Magistrates Court up to the Appeals Court, Wellington lawyer George Rosenberg has argued that, by reason of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens (in New Zealand) Act of 1923, the father of a Western Samoan facing immigration charges was a New Zealand citizen.

Finally, on July 28, Mr Rosenberg, acting in the name of Mrs Falema Lesa, was granted leave by the Appeals Court to take the issue ‘before Her Majesty in Council’. Michael Field in Wellington.

Separate Ministry For Islanders In Nz?

The New Zealand Government is considering establishment of a separate Cabinet portfolio dealing with Pacific Islander affairs Supporting the idea, President of the Maori Council Sir Graham Latimer has expressed concern that the present arrangements for Islanders, which split responsibility between Maori Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and several other government departments, did

not do justice to Islanders’ needs. Sir Graham said he had given an undertaking to Western Samoa Prime Minister Tupuola Efi that he would try to create ‘a better understanding of Pacific Islanders’ needs in New Zealand’.

TONGANS TO HEAR IT ALL OR SOME OF IT A motion to allow Radio Tonga to broadcast certain parts of Legislative Assembly proceedings was approved in July. Sixteen members voted for the motion, with only one opposed.

The South American Push

The strong push by South American Pacific-coast countries to win a stronger place in the Pacific Island community was evident at the South Pacific Commission’s recent 1981 Planning and Evaluation Committee meeting held in Noumea. For the first time, Chile’s Ambassador to Australia Dr Jorge Valdovinos attended with observer status, and as a representative of the South American Permanent Commission for the South Pacific. The SAPCSP was founded in 1952 by the South American Pacific nations of Chile, Peru and Ecuador. Colombia joined the group in 1979. The commission’s first act in 1952 was to proclaim the 200-mile maritime zone doctrine. The SAPCSP was also represented at the May, 1981, meeting of the South Pacific Commission, also held in Noumea. There too it had observer status

Vanuatu 155Th Un Member

Vanuatu will become the 155th member of the United Nations on September 15, when Prime Minister Father Walter Lini will address the General Assembly of the world body. Final details were tied up by Vanuatu’s Roving Ambassador Barak Sope in the course of his recent world trip (PIM Jul p 6). During his time abroad, Mr Sope presented his ambassadorial credentials in Canberra, Australia, and to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom in London. In Paris he was unable to present his credentials to President Mitterrand due to the preoccupation of French Government officials with the country’s general elctions.

Mr Sope’s visit to Spain, where he had hoped to present credentials to King Juan Carlos, had to be postponed.

Japanese Pay Fishing Fine In Truk

A Japanese fishing firm has agreed to pay a SUS3O 000 settlement of a fine levied by the attorney-general of the Federated States of Micronesia because of illegal fishing in FSM waters near Truk. The vessel, the Shoyo Mam 2, was seen fishing for four days in FSM waters without a permit.

Women In Big Technology Workshop

Fiji was host in July to more than 100 representatives from almost all South Pacific countries who attended a South Pacific Rural Technology Workshop. The workshop was co-ordinated by the Commonwealth Secretariat, in conjunction with Fiji’s Ministry of Agriculture. Although only three governments had nominated female delegates, the World Young Women’s Christian Associ ation (South Pacific Area Office), with financial assistance from the Intermediate Technology Development Group, London, made possible the attendance of several more women, including representatives from Western Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga, and Solomon Islands. Enthusiastic about what they had learned, these women have urged the Commonwealth Secretariat to launch a three-year programme to help women in the South Pacific to learn appropriate technologies while at home in their own countries.

Kokoda Trail Claims Young Woman Victim

An Australian nurse, Faye Mary Millar, 25, collapsed and died late in July while walking Papua New Guinea’s rugged Kokoda Trail with a party of Australian tourists. Police said that she died about a day and a half’s walk from where the 110 km trail begins at Sogeri, 40 km east of Port Moresby. They said she slipped while following a narrow track along a small ridge, and fell several feet before she could grab a small tree. Other members of the party pulled her back on to the track, but she collapsed, dying several hours later without regaining consciousness.

Vanuatu Opposition Mps Take Their Seats

Vanuatu moved a step closer to having a fully effective parliamentary set-up when in July two more Opposition members of the Representative Assembly for the first time took their seats at an assembly meeting. They were Amos Andeng (Ambrym) and Thomas Tungu (Santo). Both men had just been released from gaol with remissions for good behaviour after serving sentences relating to offences at the time of Santo’s attempted secession.

Their decision followed that of Charlie Nako, a Tanna MP, who shortly before had also taken his seat for the first time after his release from gaol (PIM Jun p 6). Work of the Representative

Assembly has been hampered ever since its first meeting in November 1979 by a boycott of proceedings by a number of Opposition MPs.

Norfolk Is. Hotel Fetches Sab7S 000

A 122-bed hotel on tax-free Norfolk Island was passed in for SAB7S 000 at a Brisbane, Australia, auction on August 5. About 45 people attended the auction. Bids had opened at $7OO 000.

Png Aid Reduction To Help Others?

An editorial in the Australian daily, The Sydney Morning Herald has suggested that the agreed progressive reduction of about SAI2 million a year in Australian budgetary aid to Papua New Guinea should automatically be used to boost Australian aid allocations to other South Pacific countries.

RED FACES FOR OZ MILITARY BRASS IN TONGA Australian naval and air force brass were acutely embarrassed by a series of mishaps attending a three-day goodwill visit to Tonga in July. First, the Australian minesweeper HMAS Snipe ran aground on Mounu Reef, almost exactly opposite the royal palace in Nukualofa. Both her propellers needed replacement.

The air force obligingly flew in the required parts, but to their chagrin discovered that the Hercules aircraft which brought them would itself need a replacement propeller before they could get it off the ground again. A second Hercules was called in with a propeller and repair crew and at last the Australians could turn their attention to the planned festivities, which coincided with the 63rd birthday of King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV.

Faichuk, A Fifth Fsm

A group of eight island municipalities in the western part of Truk lagoon, Federated States of Mircronesia, is to secede from Truk State and become the autonomous State of Faichuk, fifth partner in the FSM. The FSM Congress has approved a bill to establish the new State without opposition from the federation, which consists of Truk, Ponape, Yap and Kosrae. Faichuk has about 8000 inhabitants.

OFFICERS’ CAPS: A SWISS GETS THE SACK After a massive manhunt by French military police in Tahiti, a Swiss employee of Papeete’s plush Hotel Tahara’a was arrested for the removal from the hotel lobby of the headgear of French Foreign Legion commander General Lardry and the navy’s Admiral Choupin (PIM Aug pl 9). Despite his insistence with the hotel management that it was ‘just a joke’, the hapless Swiss was sacked on the spot.

Flags Of Convenience Vote Worries Vanuatu

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), meeting in Geneva has voted overwhelmingly against the international maritime practice of ‘flags of convenience’.

Vanuatu’s Roving Ambassador Barak Sope, whose country has planned a ‘flag of convenience’ operation (PIM May p7l), expressed concern at the vote. ‘We think this might place us at a disadvantage with other developing countries,’ he said.

Fsm Against Take-Over Of Continental

A motion before the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia opposes the take-over of the US-based Continental Airlines by Texas International Airlines, and urges the US Civil Aeronautics Board to place a ban on the move. Continental Airlines is a major shareholder in the domestic airline Air Micronesia, which services the FSM area.

PNG MAKES ROOM FOR 17 000 ‘EXPATS’

Papua New Guinea’s Department of Labour and Industry in August approved 17 000 positions for expatriates under its new work permit scheme, following assessment of training and localisation proposals submitted by the private sector. Labour Minister Jacob Lemeki said not all these positions would necessarily be filled, ‘as some undoubtedly indicate the efforts of firms and companies to make allowance for future expansion which may not take place’. By July 15, only 2502 actual work permit cards had been issued. Of these, 54% were to Australians, 15% to New Zealanders, 13% to Britons, and 5.6% to Filipinos. Government employees are at present exempt from the new work permit regulations.

Consular Ties For Tuvalu, Switzerland

Consular relations between Tuvalu and Switzerland were established in July. The Swiss consulate-general in Sydney, Australia, will be in charge of Swiss consular affairs for Tuvalu, and the Tuvalu secretary to government will act in a similar capacity for Tuvalu affairs. The Swiss Government has already assisted Tuvalu on several occasions, notably regarding Tuvalu’s membership of the Universal Postal Union.