Pacific Report

Png Arrest Of Free Papua Leader

Seth Rumkorem, leader of one of the anti-Indonesian groups calling for the independence in Irian Jaya, was arrested in Papua New Guinea in mid-September with nine of his suppor ters. They had travelled more than 1000 km by sea and had gone ashore at Rabaul where they were detected. There were indications they were making for Solomon Islands or Vanuatu to seek asylum. They were held in custody in Rabaul to face charges of being illegal immigrants, but a magistrate freed them on grounds that investigators had “invited” them ashore.

Prime Minister Dismissed In W. Samoa

Va’ai Kolone, the recently-elected prime minister of Western Samoa, has lost his seat in parliament following a Supreme Court decision which found evidence of irregularities in his election campaigning. However allegations that he had been involved in treating and bribery were not proved.

Tough U.S. Stand In Marshalls Talks

The United States has toughened up its attitude to the Marshall Islands Republic over the negotiations on the proposed Com pact of Free Association, which broke down two months ago over the terms of the plebiscite the Marshalls planned to hold in August (PIM Sep. p 5). It was hoped that the talks would restart soon, but the Americans told Marshalls President Amata Kabua in Honolulu in late August that they would not negotiate under duress. About 800 owners of land on the U.S. missile testing base on Kwajalein have been occupying strategic islets on the atoll for many weeks in protest against the terms of the financial settlement offered by the U.S. for use of the atoll. President Kabua was told that the landowners must leave before the negotiations can continue. The Marshallese, in the face of the U.S. veto of the plebiscite which offers them free association with the U.S. or independence, have also hardened their attitude, Foreign Secretary Tony deßrum announcing that the plebiscite will go ahead with independence still an option. The independence option has been rejected as unacceptable by U.S. negotiators.

South Pacific Conference For Pago

The 22nd annual South Pacific Conference will be held at Pago Pago in October. The commissioners of the South Pacific Commission will meet in private on October 20-22, with the official opening on October 23 and the conference proper from October 25-29. (See Paul Addison report, Political Currents.)

Like Oliver, Somare Asks For More

The newly returned Prime Minister in Papua New Guinea, Mr Somare, was unsuccessful late in August in his immediate attempts to extract a higher level of budget aid from Australia.

The best he could do was to gain an undertaking from the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, that the next aid negotia tions would be held in January instead of about 11 months later.

The two countries are in the second year of a five-year agreement under which Australian provides an annual untied grant which makes up nearly 30 percent of the PNG budget. The agreement allows for inflation by increasing the annual figure, but at the same time it reduces the real value of the aid by five percent annually. Because of the tight economic situation in PNG, Mr Somare asked for the waiving of the five percent reduction for at least the next two years. However, Australia has adhered to the formula which fixes the 1982-83 grant at $A254 million. Despite the adamant nature of Mr Fraser’s attitude, there is some belief that the new January talks could bring a measure of relief to PNG if only at the expense of aid to some other countries.

U.S., Palau Sign Compact

The United States and the Republic of Palau on August 26 signed a Compact of Free Association to govern their relations for a period of 50 years. The signing took place in Washington, with Ambassador Fred Zeder signing for the U.S. and Lazarus Salii for Palau. The compact represents the conclusion of 13 years of negotiations. Through it, and its nine subsidiary agreements, Palau will, over the 50-year period, receive approx imately SUSI billion, with about 40 per cent of the money

earmarked for economic development. The balance will be used for the completion and maintenance of Palau’s public works infrastructure and for the operation of government programs designed to improve health, education and welfare of the islanders. Tax and trade advantages are incorporated in the compact to stimulate American investment and private sector growth. Following approval of the compact by the people of Palau in plebiscite under United Nations observation, and by both Houses of the U.S. Congress, the Palauans will gain control of their defence for which the U.S. will retain responsibili ty under mutual security arrangements terminable only by mutual consent. The U.S. will have contingency rights to use a designated area in Palau for military training exercises on an intermittent and non-exclusive basis, and to make joint use of two airfields and a harbor. U.S. Information Agency.

Commonwealth Status For Guam

The people of Guam, an unincorporated territory of the United States, have voted, by three to one, to become a commonwealth in association with the United States rather than ask for statehood, which they would not be able to afford. The decision awaits ratification through a Territorial Federal Relations Act on the ballot papers for the general election in November. About 62 percent of the Guam people are Chamorros, as are 75 percent of the people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.

References have been made in the past about possible union, which could result when the two territories have identical status and when the U.S. trusteeship of Micronesia is terminated. A referendum held in January attracted only 37.2 percent of the voters with commonwealth status getting 48.5 percent of those votes against 25.7 percent for statehood, but because of the low poll it was decided to hold a second referendum.

VANUAAKU PARTY TAKES THREE OUT OF FOUR Vanuatu’s governing party, the Vanuaaku Party led by Prime Minister Walter Uni, has won three of four by-elections held to fill seats which have been vacant for more than two years (PIM Sep. p 6). Two seats were taken from the opposition Union of Moderate Parties, Port-Vila Town and Luganville, and the party retained the Efate Rural seat. The Union of Moderate Parties retained the Tanna seat, formerly occupied by Alexis lolu, who was shot dead during an attack on the jail on Tanna in June, 1980. The election results show a strengthening of the Vanuaaku Party’s position, which some observers believed had been weakened by recent internal strife (PIM Aug. p 5).

Fisheries Accord: Noumea’S Windfall

Late August saw the signing of a new Franco-Japanese fisheries agreement. As far as New Caledonia is concerned, the agreement provides that the Japanese may take 5550 tonnes of fish out of the waters of the territory’s exclusive economic zone for a cash return equivalent to about $A230,000 which will go to the Territory’s budget. The Noumea daily Les Nouvelles quoted Henri Emmanuelli, secretary of state for overseas departments and territories, as saying: “The overall provisions of the agree ment are in the interests of France, and more particularly of the French overseas territories that are affected: it entails a reaffir mation of the recognition by a foreign state of the economic zones around the overseas territories, improved knowledge of the fisheries potential of the economic zones, royalties to the profit of the overseas territorial budgets, strengthening of maritime economic co-operation with Japan, and strengthening of control over the activities of foreign vessels.”

N.F.P. Man Breaks Ranks In Fiji

Vijay Parmanandam, a National Federation Party member of Fiji’s Parliament, defied party orders in August and accepted an offer by the ruling Alliance Party of the post of Deputy Speaker in the Parliament. Mr Parmanandam said his decision to accept the office was meant as an apology to the Fijian people and their leaders for what he said were the insults heaped upon them during the July general election. He was later expelled from the party, but immediately vowed he would fight the expulsion.

Parliamentarians Agree To Disagree

Delegates at the 32nd Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union

(APPU) at Kolonia, Ponape, failed to agree on a resolution opposing the dumping of nuclear waste in the Pacific. The Japanese delegation indicated that it would refuse to sign the meeting memorandum if the resolution formed part of the record. In a compromise, the APPU approved a memorandum which said consideration of the anti-dumping resolution was deferred to the 33rd council meeting and the 18th APPU general assembly meeting on Guam in January. Earlier, the meeting was told that the Association of Pacific Islands Legislatures (APIL), which includes Guam, the Northern Marianas, Belau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia, had adopted a resolution, at its late August meeting on Guam, to create a nuclear-free zone in the Pacific. APPU Council Chairman Daisuke Akita, chief of the Japanese delegation, said Japan had no intention of dumping its nuclear wastes without the consent of the Pacific Islands nations.

Fraser Faces Party Rumblings On Aid

Australian Prime Minister Fraser’s announcement at the South Pacific Forum of increased Australian aid for the South Pacific (up by 50 per cent to SA3OO million over the next five years) has caused rumblings in his own Liberal Party. The Liberal Premier of the State of Western Australia, Mr O’Connor, went on record as saying: “The harsh judgment has to be made that priorities are wrong in a Commonwealth Government which puts over seas aid ahead of the interests at home of the unemployed and the disadvantaged. Overseas aid is a moral obligation, but its allocation, and increases in it, are definitely not of greater priority than the needs of the people of Australia at a time of profound economic uncertainty.” And a newspaper commentator noted: “. . . Mr O’Connor was saying publicly what many Liberals felt privately about Mr Fraser’s sudden burst of overseas largesse.”

Such critics seem blissfully unaware that even “a time of profound economic uncertainty” in Australia would seem to the inhabitants of most island countries a time of unprecendented economic prosperity.

Anti-Nuclear Protester Back Home

Navigator of the Australian anti-nuclear protest yacht Pacific Peacemaker, Lorraine Ethell, 33, returned to Australia with her four children on August 29. The yacht was arrested by the US Coast Guard at Seattle when, with other protest craft, it was seeking to impede the passage of the giant new US Trident nuclear submarine. A bulletin issued by the Pacific Peacemaker support organisation claimed that the coast guardsmen hand cuffed the crew, and stood over them with shotguns and sub machine guns. Lorraine Ethell told a press conference in Sydney that several members of the crew were mistreated, as they were dragged around the deck in their handcuffs, and had their fingers bent back over a metal bar.

Soviets At Rocket Practice

The, Soviet Union announced at the end of August it would be firing rockets into the central Pacific from September 1-10. Co ordinates provided showed that the target area was near Midway Island. Ships and aircraft were warned to stay outside the area each day between 14 and 18 hours local time.

Japanese Fishermen Oppose Dumping

Japan’s National Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associa tions has expressed its opposition to the Japanese Govern ment’s plan to dump 10,000 drums of nuclear waste in the Pacific Ocean. The federation is expected to make an official declaration of its policy towards the dumping of nuclear waste, a policy which has been supported by Guam, the Northern Marianas, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands. The four territories have sent letters to the federation, the President of the FSM, Tosiwo Nakayama, writing: “It is the stated policy of my government that low or high level nuclear waste (dumping) by any country is prohibited in all marine areas under the jurisdiction of the Federated States of Micronesia.

This country has also joined other Pacific nations in opposing all nuclear waste dumping by any country in and throughout the

I 3Citic.

Flosse’S Man Romps Home In Tahiti

A by-election in French Polynesia on August 29 to fill a vacant position of Deputy to the National Assembly in Paris was won

handsomely in the first round by Tutaha Salmon, candidate of the Tahoeraa Huiraatira party. The vacancy was created when the former Deputy, Gaston Flosse, became Vice-President of French Polynesia’s Government Council following the May elections in the Territory. He cannot hold both this position and that of Deputy. Flosse is the leader of Salmon’s party, and the two are very close political associates. Two features of the election should be noted. First, only 57 percent of eligible voters bothered to go to the polls. It was the fifth election in a year, and, with the result a foregone conclusion, most people preferred to enjoy a beautiful sunny day. Second, the election was a major setback for the Here ai’a party of John Teariki, coalition partner of Francis Sanford’s E’a api party in the former Government Council: its candidate, the relatively unknown Jean Faatau, managed to attract only 897 votes, 5.71 per cent of the total. The candidate of the la mana te nunaa party, Jacqui Drollet, scored 2030 votes, 12.93 per cent of the total. Mr Salmon pulled in 8350 votes, 53.17 per cent of the total. His nearest rival, Emile Vernaudon, new President of the local Territorial Assembly, standing for his own Ai’a api party, got 3993 votes, or 25.43 per cent. Marie-Therese Danielsson. (For a report on New Caledonia’s September 5 by-election which also chose a Deputy see Helen Fraser’s report in this issue.)

Noumea: New Arrest In Declercq Case

Authorities in Noumea have arrested a second man in connec tion with the murder in September 1981 of Independence Front leader Pierre Declercq. He is Barthelemy Martin, a barman, who has been charged with premeditated murder. A statement by the prosecutor said Martin had been arrested because his presence had been established near the victim’s home at the time of the murder, and he could not justify being there. The testimony he had given immediately after the crime had also now been proven false. The prosecutor said Martin’s arrest would not affect the trial of the first man charged with the murder, Dominique Canon, who was released on bail in July.

Solomons’ Teke Glum On Forum

Solomon Islands Deputy Prime Minister Kamilo Teke says New Zealand and Fiji played too great a part in the 13th South Pacific Forum meeting at Rotorua, New Zealand. Mr Teke, who led his country’s delegation to the meeting, said on his return to Honiara that he was disappointed with the way New Zealand Prime Minister Muldoon had run the Forum. He claimed that Fiji had also tried to dominate the meeting. Mr Teke said he was particularly disappointed with the selection of the new director of the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation, Mahe Tupouniua, of Tonga. He said Mr Tupouniua had served as director for many years, and Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands all felt that someone from another country should have a turn in the job. Mr Teke added that the applicant from Kiribati had all the necessary qualifications. (See reports on Forum meeting elsewhere in this issue.)

Jimmy Stevens’ Brief Taste Of Freedom

Jimmy Stevens, leader of the failed secessionist revolt on Santo, Vanuatu, in 1980, escaped from prison in Port-Vila on September 12, but was recaptured within a few hours. Stevens is serving a 14 1 /2-year sentence for his part in the revolt.

Stevens escaped with at least five other prisoners, including an Australian, Ken Cassel, who had been sentenced in August to three and a half years imprisonment for theft of the freighter Glenelg from Port-Vila harbor in December last year (PIM Feb. p 6). Under cover of darkness, the escaped prisoners boarded a launch owned by a skin-diving company, threatened the sea men who had charge of it, and took the craft out of the harbor.

The launch was spotted by a light aircraft off the coast of Efate early on September 13, and a government patrol boat put to sea and quickly retrieved the launch and its passengers.

Cannabis Means Calaboose In Cooks

A 37-year-old American, Dalbert Guisenger, husband of a Cook Islander and resident in the Cook Islands for 18 months, has been fined $lOOO and ordered to perform community service for 12 months by Chief Justice Graham Speight in Avarua High Court for importing 2.4 grams of cannabis.