Pacific Report

Elections In Png, Fiji

July 10-17 was polling week in Fiji’s fourth general election since the country became independent in 1970. A total of 136 candidates were contesting the 51 seats for the House of Representatives. (One member of the 52-seat House was already elected unopposed.) A Radio Australia correspondent in Fiji said that most contests were straight two-way affairs between the ruling Alliance Party and the National Federation Party-Western United Front coalition. A total of almost 300 000 voters were registered. Observers generally agreed that the result of the election would be close. PIM editor Angus Smales reports in detail on Papua New Guinea’s June election (p 11).

Reagan Acts On Kwajalein Dispute

US President Ronald Reagan in July despatched his personal representative Fred Zeder to the Marshall Islands to try to settle a dispute involving the Kwajalein Atoll missile testing range. More than 800 Marshallese landowners had set up tent camps on the base. Protest leaders said they intended to prevent operation of the base, which is the only facility in the Pacific for testing intercontinental ballistic missiles, if their demands for higher rental payments and other changes were not met. Leases on Kwajalein land for US military use expired on September 30, 1981. Pending the conclusion of leases the base had been operated under an interim agreement with the Marshall Islands Government, with the landowners receiving about SUSB million a year in cash and services. The demonstrators had settled in on the main island at the heart of the base, and on several other smaller islands in an area that the US Army considered hazardous when the missiles pass overhead and plunge into the shallow lagoon. Meanwhile, the Marshall Islands Government had announced in June that it would go ahead with an August 17 plebiscite on the proposed Compact of Free Association (PIM Jul p 5) with the USA, despite American requests for a postponement. The Marshalls Foreign Secretary Tony deßrum questioned US suggestions that the August date did not allow enough time for public education about the proposal. Mr deßrum referred to persistent rumours of ‘under-cover American activity’ aimed at influencing the outcome of the plebiscite. He said the US appeared to want to change the wording on the ballot paper so that American trusteeship would continue if the Compact were defeated. Mr deßrum said the US Defence Department was feaiful of losing the Kwajalein missile testing range if the Marshalls became independent.

Us Will Not Sign L.O.S. Convention

The US decision not to sign the Law of the Sea convention was described as ‘disappointing’ by Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Tony Street in a July statement. ‘lt is a setback to those many countries that had worked so hard to try to ensure that the new Law of the Sea was supported by global consensus,’ he said.

According to an Australian press report, Mr Street’s statement ‘reflected the damage the Reagan Administration had done to years of painstaking work’. The report added: The decision means that the country that would have been most significant in the development of the seabed is excluding itself from its obligations under the convention . . . The position of the US Government has now radically undermined the relevance of the agreement and has led other countries, like the Soviet Union and Britain, to abstain.’

Peace Corps Man In South Pacific

Deputy Director of the US Peace Corps Everett Alvarez has been visiting South Pacific Island countries where the corps is active.

In Tonga he met King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, and was guest at a dinner hosted by Crown Prince Tupouto’a.

W.Samoa Government Loses Its Majority

A Supreme Court ruling in Western Samoa in late June deprived the government of Prime Minister Vaai Kolone of its parliamentary majority. The court decision stripped Education Minister Fuataga of his seat after he had been found guilty of electoral malpractice by making gifts of food and fruit to voters on polling day in February. After supplying the Speaker, the government was left with 22 seats to the opposition’s 23. Parliament was in recess at the time of the court ruling, and it was unclear what the next move

would be. More than 20 petitions have been filed against other MPs elected in February. Complicating matters still further is the fact that parts of the country’s Electoral Act have been declared unconstitutional by Chief Justice St John (PIM Jun p2O).

Vanuaaku Party In Congress

The 12th annual congress’of Vanuatu’s ruling Vanuaaku Party late in June requested the government to declare Vanuatu a nuclear-free state, and accused ‘outside’ interests of sponsoring motions of no-confidence in Prime Minister Fr Walter Uni in parliament as a means of toppling the government (PIM Jun p 5).

The congress said certain power-hungry politicians were being manipulated and used as ‘tools of foreign interests’. It also urged the government to reconsider some of the political compromises and favours it had offered to opposition political groups in the interest of promoting national unity and stability. Fr Lini was re elected president. Meanwhile the two dismissed VP ministers, Thomas Reuben Seru and George Worek, have announced the formation of a new party, the Vanuatu Alliance Party. They have been joined in the move by the MP for the Santo Urban seat, Kalmar Voccor. The new grouping held its first meeting in Santo from June 28-July 3.

Sharp Png Protest To Indonesia

A stiff diplomatic protest note has been sent to Indonesia by Papua New Guinea’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Noel Levi over a June 26 incursion by an armed Indonesian patrol. The minister alleged that the patrol had taken 19 Irian Jaya refugees back across the border. He said that the refugees had been in PNG for five years, and that the crossing was a contradiction of assurances given by Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Dr Mochtarthat his country would respect the border. Mr Levi predicted ‘an almost certain degeneration’ of relations between the two countries if the incursions did not stop. Shortly before the incursion PNG had returned 18 Indonesians held hostage by Irian Jaya rebels on its territory. They were believed to be the last of the group of 57 people seized by Irian Jaya rebels last October from a sawmill near Jayapura.

New N-Test At Moruroa

France exploded a nuclear device at Moruroa in July, the second this year. New Zealand scientists reported from their monitoring centre in the Cook Islands that the blast was in the 20-kilotonne range. The earlier test, detected in March, was of a 15-kilotonne bomb.

Ratu Mara Blasts Australian Tv Crew

Fiji Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara in June protested to the Australian Government over the conduct of an Australian Broadcasting Commission television crew in Fiji. Ratu Mara accused the crew of active interference in the campaign for Fiji’s July election, of having supplied information to Opposition Leader Jai Ram Reddy about a confidential report prepared for his Alliance Party, and of offensive behaviour during an interview he had accorded them. Ratu Mara said he had walked out of the interview in protest. He said the Fiji Government regarded the affair as ‘a blatant act of political sabotage against a sovereign nation’. Acknowledging the protest had been received, Austra lia’s Department of Foreign Affairs said that the ABC was an independent body, and that it was up to it to decide what to do about the protest.

NAURU BACKS TAKEOVER BID FOR OZ AIRLINE The Australian Treasurer John Howard said in July that the efforts of a company to take over East-West Airlines, Australia’s third biggest domestic airline, using funds from Nauru, did not come within the scope of Australia’s Foreign Takeovers Act. The takeover bid is being made by a newly formed Australian company, East-West Developments Ltd. The company is financed by an SAB.S million loan from the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust. Mr Howard said the government would act only if the Nauruan trust sought to take up its option in case of a default on the loan. East-West Developments was formed by Duke Minks, a former executive of Citicorp Australia, and Bryan Grey, a former executive of Air Niugini and Australia’s Ansett Airlines.

Micronesia: Investigators Pour In

A delegation from the World Council of Churches in June began an extensive visit to the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

A spokesman for the WCC said that among other things, the mission was expected to raise issues related to proposals for a nuclear-free Pacific, and to examine the role the US has played as trustee of the Micronesian islands since World War 11. The

Carter Administration had planned to wind up the trusteeship by 1981, but the incoming Reagan Administration announced that the programme would be delayed for further review of the terms of association of the Micronesian people with the US. A mission from the United Nations Trusteeship Council, headed by incum bent Council president Paul Poudade of France, also visited Micronesia from July 4-31.

‘Economic Outlook Grim’ Siwatibau

The General Manager of Fiji’s Central Monetary Authoritory, Mr Siwatibau, has warned of poor export markets, low commodity prices, and rising unemployment for South Pacific Island countries over the next two years. Speaking at a June meeting in Suva of Pacific development planners, he said that all South Pacific countries were facing rising deficits in their current account. Some countries had gone to the European money markets, incurring greater external debts. Others, he said, had sought the help of the International Monetary Fund. Mr Siwatibau urged planners to keep a close eye on external cash flow into their countries.

Src’S ‘P&E’ Committee Meets

The Planning and Evaluation Committee of the South Pacific Commission, meeting in Noumea in June, assessed the commission’s work over the past year, and set plans for a work programme for the coming three years. Among items listed for discussion were the establishment of a Pacific Islands agricultural stabilisation scheme, and a regional development fund.

Australia Offered As N-Test Monitor Site

Australia has been offered as the site of one of a chain of United Nations data centres which would be used to monitor whether nuclear tests were being conducted in the region. The offer was made to the United Nations General Assembly special session on disarmament in June by Australian Foreign Minister Tony Street.

He said that his government attached the highest importance to conclusion of a comprehensive and fully verifiable nuclear test ban treaty. He strongly criticised nuclear testing and warned of the spread of nuclear technology. Mr Street condemned the dumping of nuclear waste in the Pacific, criticised countries that are working towards a nuclear capability, and also countries that are providing them with the technology to do so. The US newsagency Associated Press noted that Mr Street’s criticism of nuclear testing clearly applied to France, but that his remarks about the storing or dumping of nuclear materials applied also to the USA (which stores nuclear wastes at Runit in the Marshall Islands), and Japan (which has plans to dump nuclear wastes in the Pacific). Representatives of Fiji and Papua New Guinea, in their addresses to the session, both called for a nuclear-free zone in the South Pacific.

‘New Chapter’ In Malaysia-Pacific Ties

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir has described his recent visit to a number of South Pacific countries (PIM Jul p 6) as ‘opening a new chapter’ in his country’s relations with the region. He said that Malaysia’s new-found interest in the South Pacific reflected its new foreign policy directions, which stressed bilateral co operation with developing countries. Dr Mahathir visited Fiji, Tonga and Western Samoa, and made brief stop-overs in Port Moresby and Honiara. During his talks with South Pacific leaders Dr Mahathir offered to help in their countries’ development by opening training facilities in broadcasting, defence, adminis tration, and land development to people from the region.

Malaysia would also encourage private companies to explore agricultural opportunities in the South Pacific.

MORE OZ AID TO COUNTER SOVIET MOVES Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Tony Street has said Australia’s aid programmes in the Pacific will be stepped up to counter growing Soviet activity in the region. Speaking on Singapore television, Mr Street said Soviet attempts to gam influence among small, isolated and vulnerable Pacific countries would increase. Australia was concerned about Soviet offers of aid in the region such as hydrographic surveys or fisheries research. Mr Street described them as ‘a new development.

Soviets And Mr Suzuki’S Pacific Age’

The Soviet Union can participate in the new ‘Pacific Age but only if it makes concrete contributions to peace and economic stability, according to Japan’s Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki.

Speaking in Hawaii in June, Mr Suzuki unveiled a new plan for peace and economic co-operation in the Pacific. He said the linchpins of the plan were an easing of military tensions, and the free flow of people and goods between nations. He said it was a

matter of serious concern that the Soviet Union had continued to build up its military forces in Asia and the Far East in what he called the ‘Pacific Age’. Mr Suzuki called for economic co operation, warning against what he called ‘vindictive’ trade practices. Protectionist tendencies were emerging in the region but free trade was necessary if the vitality of the Pacific Basin was to be strengthened. He also urged the further development of regional organisations, citing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as an example of the spirit of self-help.

Cooks Can Sign L.O.S. Convention

The Cooks Islands will be able to sign the Law of the Sea convention when it is ratified. There had been doubts held on this score in the Cooks because of the country’s ‘special relationship’ status with New Zealand. This has been clarified in the draft convention adopted at the United Nations. The Cooks see the LOS Convention as strengthening its hold on an exclusive economic zone covering almost 200 000 square kilometres.

Oil, Gas And Minerals Survey Completed

The joint Australian/New Zealand/US survey of offshore oil, gas and mineral prospects in the southwest Pacific was completed in June. It involved more than 50 scientists working on two vessels over a period of two months. Scientific personnel from Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea took part in the project, which tested petroleum prospects around Tonga, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, and mineral deposits off Fiji and Solomon Islands. An Australian scientist with the project, Dr Neville Exon, said the tests confirmed that some parts of the area have the geological potential of oil, gas and valuable minerals, but that it was too early to say there were any economically viable deposits. He said the data collected would take about 18 months to collate. The three countries concerned undertook the project after the Soviet Union had responded favourably to an appeal from a United Nations agency for a UN member country to carry it out (PIM Aug ’Bl p 5). The tripartite offer was welcomed by the Island governments concerned.

Moruroa: Scientists Urge Further Study

A French Defence Ministry team investigating the problems created by nuclear testing at Moruroa, French Polynesia, has recommended that a longer, independent study should be carried out. Headed by vulcanologist Harouf Tazieff, the team reported in July that the tests are being carried out with satisfactory safety measures and concern for the environment. Mr Tazieff empha sised that initial investigations had shown no special risks justifying new emergency measures. But, he added, further study was needed of possible geological changes in the atoll caused by the tests, of the possible disturbance of fall-out from earlier atmospheric tests, and the development of an improved alarm system. For these reasons, he would be recommending the longer study.

Fiji Denies ‘Collaboration’ In Lebanon

Fiji’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sharply rejected reports that its troops in the Lebanon peace-keeping force had ‘collaborated with Israeli forces during their June invasion of Lebanon. The same charge had been levelled at the Dutch component of the force The ministry said its lightly armed forces could not have been expected to stop the advance into Lebanon of the heavily armoured Israeli forces. It added that Fiji’s forces will be withdrawn if Israeli aggression continues.

Death Sentence On Three In Tonga

Three Tongan men, Haloti Sole, his brother Livmgi Sole, and hli ’Esau, all of Lapaha village, were sentenced to death by Mr Justice H. Hill in the Tonga Supreme Court in June for the murder of a youth last March. The three accused, who were travelling in a van with others, became involved in a fight with three youths after stones were thrown at the van. The court was told that the three accused, said to be under the influence of alcohol, had attacked the youth, Haloti with an axe, Living! a cane knife, and Fili a weeding hoe. The death sentence is subject to confirmation by the king in Privy Council. The last person to die by hanging in Tonga was ’Otenili Fisilau, 31, on December 27, 1977.

Lively Old Bombs Close Rabaul Airport

Rabaul airport on the Papua New Guinea island of New Britain was closed in June after World War II bombs exploded on the outskirts of the airfield. The airfield had been closed on two occasions in May when bombs exploded beneath the aircraft flightpath. Rabaul and its airfield suffered heavy Japanese and Allied bombardment during campaigns in 1942-43 for c °nlrol of New Britain. It is understood that at the end of the war bombs were collected and left on a rubbish dump.