Pacific Report

January 11 For Palau Plebiscite

The U.S. Government has set January 11 as the date of a plebiscite to decide the political future of Palau. Voters will be asked to approve or reject the compact of free association with the U.S., and in the event that the compact is rejected, whether they want a closer relationship with the U.S., or independence.

Hawaii “Disaster Area” After Hurricane

A hurricane that swept across the Hawaiin islands in late November with winds of up to 180 km an hour was the worst to strike the islands for 23 years. One person was killed, more than 100 treated for minor injuries, and nearly 7000 evacuated from their homes. President Reagan later declared Hawaii a disaster area. Damage to private and public property on Kauai and the more populous island of Oahu has been estimated at about SUSI6O million. Military officials said army facilities may have sustained damage totalling at least $3O million. The Red Cross said the hurricane destroyed 180 homes on Oahu and Kauai, and damaged more than 14,000.

Uni Raps France-Fiji Accord

The Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Father Walter Uni, has criticised an agreement between France and Fiji over the demarcation of maritime economic zones. In parliament in late November Fr Uni referred to the part of the agreement concerning New Caledonia. In particular he referred to Matthew and Hunter islands, two uninhabited islands south of Vanuatu, which he said were the sovereign territory of Vanuatu (PIM Jul ’B2 p 35). Fr Uni said that if Fiji recognised these two islands as part of New Caledonia, this would be a direct threat to peace, unity and stability. He added that even the Independence Front in New Caledonia recognised that Matthew and Hunter islands belong ed to Vanuatu. The Opposition leader, Mr Boulekone, supported the prime minister’s stand and urged that outstanding questions of maritime zones be resolved with neighboring states. Until the Law of the Sea Conference proposed the division of the oceans into economic and fisheries zones, uninhabited specks like Matthew and Hunter had no significance. Today, with the South Pacific Islands nations declaring their 200-mile zones, the two islands assume greater importance.

Png Troops Raid Rebel Camp

Papua New Guinea troops and police in late November raided an Irian Jaya rebel camp on the PNG side of the border, driving the rebels back into Indonesia. PNG’s Foreign Minister, Rabbie Namaliu, said the group of about 50 guerrillas had apparently been warned and had fled the camp by the time the troops arrived. Mr Namaliu said police had burnt down houses in the rebel sanctuary and destroyed food gardens. Sources in Port Moresby said the action would be welcomed in Indonesia as showing a desire by the new PNG government for improved relations. Relations between PNG and Indonesia were strained in June 1981 when the former PNG government accused Indonesian troops of making raids across the border. Sweden has been reported to be considering a request from the PNG Government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that it give refuge and permanent residence to the “Free West Papua” (Indonesian Irian Jaya) guerrilla leader, Seth Rumkorem. The report also covers Mr Rumkorem’s two subordinates, Fred Athaboe and Luis Nussy.

No Tv For Christmas

Papua New Guinea did not get television on Christmas Day as had been promised by its National Broadcasting Commission.

The PNG cabinet directed NBC chairman Leo Morgan, and Media Minister Boyamo Sali, not to introduce broadcast TV for at least four years. Prime Minister Michael Somare said cabinet had told Mr Morgan to redirect whatever funds he had allocated for television to improve provincial radio services. Earlier, Mr Morgan had promised he would introduce pilot television broadcasts on Christmas Day in Port Moresby, Lae and Mount Hagen. Satellite receiving dishes have been built in all these centres and Mr Morgan had approached the Australian Broad casting Commission for approval to re-transmit ABC television programs. The ABC said it did not have copyright outside Australia for many of its programs, and so could not approve re transmission.

OZ DEFENCE CHIEF IN S.W. PACIFIC TOUR The assistant chief of the Australian Defence Force staff, Major- General Gration, visited five southwest Pacific countries in December for talks on defence co-operation. General Gration was accompanied by a senior officer of the Strategic and International Policy Division of the Defence Department. They visited Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Western Samoa and Tonga.

Noumea Course For Drugs Fighters

Customs officers and police from South Pacific countries were taught new ways of identifying and detecting illegal drugs at a course held in New Caledonia in November. Those taking part studied latest methods used by international drug traffickers.

The two-week course was run by the South Pacific Commission with financial help from the Australian and New Zealand Governments, the United Nations, and the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation. The South Pacific is becoming increasingly important as a drug route. A haul of 300 kilograms of cannabis was made recently in Noumea. The drugs were believed to be en route from Bangkok to Sydney.

Repayment Shortfall On Png Plantations

The Papua New Guinea government has got back only a third of the money it spent on buying plantations from foreign owners in the first five years of independence. The plantation acquisition scheme, suspended two years ago, saw ownership of 84 plantations pass back to the traditional landowners. About SAIO million was paid to former owners, mostly Australians. It was intended that this amount could be paid back from plantation profits, but Lands Minister Bebes Korowaro said only about $3 1 /2 million has been paid back so far. He says repayments in many cases had been slow because the plantations were run down, and good managers were in short supply.

Fiji: Deport Order On Medallist

The winner of Fiji’s only gold medal at the October 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane has been told to leave Fiji.

Immigration officials said in December that Sani Fine, a Tongan, had outstayed his visitor’s permit, and the fact that he is married to a Fiji woman did not give him automatic right to stay in the country. Fine won a boxing gold medal at the Brisbane Games and has been voted Fiji’s sportsman of the year. With 14 days to appeal against the Immigration Department’s ruling, Sani Fine was cheered by a statement from Immigration Minister Ratu William Toganivalu saying that he will give “sympathetic consid eration” to the case, and that Fine had “enhanced Fiji’s reputation internationally”, and “needed support”.

“MULDOON STALLS ON CITIZENSHIP” - W. SAMOA Western Samoa has strongly criticised New Zealand Prime Minster Robert Muldoon for delaying talks on the citizenship issue until the new year. The Western Samoan cabinet spokes man, Asi Sagaga, said Mr Muldoon was playing politics by not holding talks with Western Samoa’s Prime Minister Tupuola Efi until February. He said Mr Muldoon was hoping that there would be a change of government in Western Samoa before February.

The Western Samoa leader says he wants to change an agreement signed by the previous Prime Minister, Va’ai Kolone.

Tupuola Efi has said the agreement denies a large number of Western Samoans their right to New Zealand citizenship.

Solomons Minister Warns On Graft

The Solomon Islands budget was brought down in parliament on November 25. Finance Minister Bartholomew Ulufa’alu issued a strong warning to members about corruption. Mr Ulufa’alu, who leads the National Democratic Party, junior party in the coalition government, said his department had seen and heard too many irresponsible ideas from people who thought they could make instant riches in the Solomon Islands. He warned members that it was their responsibility not to gamble away the country’s natural resources or mortgage the nation’s independence for personal gain. Observers said the minister’s comments could be interpreted as criticism of members of the prime minister’s party.

They noted that Prime Minister Solomon Mamaloni was not in parliament when the speech was delivered. The budget pro vided for spending of about $75 million. There were no increases in taxes or other duties. Mr Ulufa’alu, a former union

leader, urged wage restraint over the coming 12 months so that the Solomon Islands could better weather the worldwide economic recession.

THE HIGH SEAS ARE CLEAN, SO CLEAN...

Almost 100 marine scientists have concluded after a four-year study that earlier reports of the impending demise of the world’s oceans are without foundation, and that they are in fact alive and well except at the edges, where they come into contact with human society and its garbage. There, they say, the pollution is serious. Their findings, released in Geneva in November by the United Nations Enviroment Program (UNEP), clearly contradict dire warnings issued at the 1972 Stockholm environmental conference that led the UN to study the health of the seas. The 112-page report says that the growing amount of waste dumped into the oceans has still not had any significant effect on the health of the high seas. The ocean floor shows little sign of garbage piling up to pollute the depths. Currents and chemical processes break down most wastes, even oil from oil spills, then absorb it with little or no trace. The report says the tightest controls should be introduced for two man-made pollutants nuclear waste and DDT. No public health problem should arise if nuclear waste is dumped according to the strict guidelines set down by the International Atomic Agency, the report says. It should be severely controlled, but storing it on land in unused mines would carry a much higher risk since it would enter drinking water. As for DDT, the report says there is a risk that in some coastal zones residue levels of DDT are being reached in some marine organisms that might make them unacceptable as human food. Asked why he and the research team had taken such a moderated stand on dumping wastes into the sea, the head of the UNEP regional seas program, Dr S. Keckes, said: “We live on the land, not in the sea. We have to stike some kind of balance.”

Fiji’S National Bank Posts A Profit

Fiji’s National Bank has recorded its first profit in eight years.

The bank, one of six commercial banks in Fiji, reported a profit of F 5228,000 for the financial year ending last June. National Bank Chairman Josevata Kamikamica said the good trading results enabled the bank to eliminate accumulated losses and pay a small dividend to the Fiji Government.

Somare Treated For “Exhaustion”

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Michael Somare was released from hospital in late November after having been treated for exhaustion. He was on doctors’ orders to take five days complete rest. Mr Somare had complained of chest pains and sickness in parliament near the end of a long sitting on the budget. The senior medical officer with the PNG Defence Force, Colonel Eaton, said checks had shown that Mr Somare was not suffering from heart or blood pressure problems. His illness had been caused by overwork.

Png Opens Up To Islands Students

As from this year, Papua New Guinea is offering 10 percent of all places in its tertiary educational institutions to students from other South Pacific Island countries. Announcing this in a meeting with Jesoni Takala, Fiji’s roving representative to member contries in the South Pacific Forum, PNG’s Foreign Minister Rabbie Namaliu paid tribute to the role played by Fiji’s educational institutions in PNG’s development. He recalled that PNG had had students studying medicine in Fiji since the 19505.

The new offer means that more than 100 places will become available to Pacific Islands students at PNG’s two universities, and its various administrative, technical, commercial and ag ricultural colleges.

Fiji-China Rice-Growing Plan

Fiji and China have signed an agreement to develop 60 hectares of rice paddies about 30 kilometres from Suva. China will plan and design the scheme and help supply equipment and experience, the project will be developed next to a Fiji Govern ment rice irrigation scheme at Navua. Two years ago, Chinese experts studied Fiji’s rice production and recommended ways to improve yields and help reduce rice imports.

Solomons’ Cut Of Oz Defence Aid

Australian defence co-operation aid to Solomon Islands is the

highest per capita of the South Pacific Island states according to Australia’s High Commissioner in Honiara, Trevor Sofield. Mr Sofield was commenting on criticism from the Solomon Islands’

Police and Justice Minister, Paul Keyaumi that Australia’s defence aid was too small. Mr Kayaumi had claimed that Australia had given substantial support to other Pacific countries for military purposes, but had given very little to Solomon Islands. Mr Sofield said Solomon Islands this financial year will receive $A4.2 million in defence co-operation aid, $1.7 million more than last financial year. In total figures, it was second only to Papua New Guinea, but on a per capita basis was the highest.

Arrow’S Shot In The Air

A second airline has begun services between American Samoa and Hawaii. The American airline, Arrow Air, has three services each week between Pago Pago and Honolulu. It began the service with drastically reduced fares, but the American Samoa airline, South Pacific Islands Airways, which also operates on the route, matched the cuts.

Approvals, Rejections, For Air Nauru

The United States Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) has approved Air Nauru’s application to provide services between Nauru and Honolulu via Tarawa and Majuro and beyond Pago Pago to Niue and Auckland. But the New Zealand Government has rejected the airline’s application to embark or disembark passengers between Pago Pago and Auckland, and the Kiribati Government has placed a similar ban on traffic between Tarawa and Honolulu. CAB also prohibits Air Nauru from carrying locals between Honolulu and Majuro, Ponape, Truk, Palau, Guam, Saipan and Pago Pago.

Oz Bows Out Of Png Aviation

The last of the functions still under Australian Government control in Papua New Guinea those concerning civil aviation are to come totally under the PNG government’s control in January. When PNG gained independence from Australia in September 1975, most government functions were transferred to PNG. However, some aspects of civil aviation have remained the responsibility of the Australian civil aviation agency until now. PNG’s Transport Minister, Matthew Bendum, told parlia ment in November that a new office will be formed within his department to take charge of civil aviation, symbolising PNG’s independence and its ability in aviation management.

New Caledonia: “No” To Energy Reform

New Caledonia’s Territorial Assembly voted in late November to reject the French government’s latest reform for the territory, concerning energy. However, the assembly’s 20-10 vote has no legal force as France has been ruling New Caledonia by decree since December 1981 when the Mitterrand government took the power to impose a series of reforms on New Caledonia to remove what it called injustices and inequalities in the territory.

Earlier reforms concerned land, economic development, recog nition of some Melanesian culture and identity, and recognition of some Melanesian customary law. Only the reform dealing with customary law received the approval of the assembly. The energy reform seeks to place energy supplies under the control of territorial authorities rather than private companies.

“Co-Operate To Beat Slump” Escap

A United Nations agency has urged developing countries in Asia and the Pacific to increase their economic co-operation in an effort to ease the effects of the world recession. It said co operation could be expanded between state trading organisa tions, and trade preference systems, or multi-national trading bodies, could be set up. The UN Economic and Social Commis sion for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), meeting in Bangkok, called on the UN to help poorer countries find ways of attracting investment to overcome shortages of foreign capital.

Watch For Palauan First-Day Covers

The hand-over of U.S. postal services to the Republic of Palau has been completed, as provided for in the recently initialled Compact of Free Association. The republic is the first govern ment in Micronesia to establish its own post office. It hopes to realise SUSI million a year through its services, including the issue of its own stamps.