Pacific Report

Marshalls To Ditch Compact?

The Republic of the Marshall Islands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs is “seriously considering abandonment of the draft Compact (of Free Association) which is deemed too technical and com plicated for the people to understand,” says a March news release from the ministry. The ministry has drafted a new proposal to be presented to the U.S. for consideration after review and approval by the Marshall Islands Cabinet. The new proposal, says the release, is a shorter, cleaner document, devoid of the numerous details and technicalities of the original compact. It will assure the sovereignty of the republic and establish its relationship with the United States under a treaty arrangement. The new draft agreement calls for U.S. recogni tion of complete independence for the Marshalls with military rights in the Marshalls for the U.S and the right of the U.S. to deny military use or access to all other nations. It includes a provision banning the testing or disposal of nuclear weapons and chemical or biological weapons in the Marshall Islands and, except in certain emergency situations, it bans the storage of such weapons in the Marshalls. It also provides for continued U.S. military use of Marshallese territory, such as Kwajalein Atoll, subject to the terms of a separate agreement. The release adds that the negotiations between the Marshall Islands and the United States became deadlocked over an issue unique to the republic, the settlement of Marshallese claims for injuries and damages inflicted upon them in the U.S. nuclear-testing prog ram in the Marshall Islands during the 1940 s and 19505. The Marshallese leaders no longer believe that this issue can be settled by negotiation, and their new proposal would leave the problem for judicial review in the U.S. Federal Courts.

Fsm Plebiscite In June

The Federated States of Micronesia and the United States as administrators of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands have agreed that the plebiscite on the Compact of Free Association shall be held on June 21. The people of the four partners in the federation, Truk, Ponape, Kosrae and Yap, will vote on their future relationship with the United States. If the compact, which will govern the relationship between self-governing FSM in free association with the U.S., is rejected, voters will have the choice of independence or some form of continuing relationship with the U.S.

Png To Become Republic?

The final report of the Papua New Guinea General Constitution al Commission, tabled in Parliament in March, recommends that PNG should become a republic with a president. The Queen would no longer be Head of State but the country would remain a member of the Commonwealth. The report said the proposal to cut ties with the British Crown was based on submissions from the public. The president would have powers to dissolve Parliament and future national governments should be removed from office if they did not follow the national goals and directive principles set out in the constitution.

Leremia Tabai Back As Kiribati President

President of Kiribati until the government resigned on a “no confidence” vote in December, leremia Tabai has been re elected on a national vote for a third and final term of four years. President Tabai received 49.6 per cent of the votes, 21.9 per cent more than his nearest rival, medical practitioner and new MP Dr Harry Tong. The new government is almost sure to be little changed from the last one. Teato Teannaki is again the Vice-President; Matita Taniera has been re-elected Speaker and seven of the ministers in the last Cabinet retained their seats in the general elections in January.

“Peace Winds” Slam Moruroa

France's nuclear testing site of Moruroa Atoll was hit by Cyclone Drama on February 27. It was the second time in a month that the atoll had been struck by a cyclone (PIM Mar p3l). On February 26, 500 Polynesians had gathered in Papeete for what wes called a Bikini Day rally, commemorating the disaster of March 1, 1954, in which a radio-active cloud from a 15-megaton H-bomb test staged by the U.S. spread to inhabited Micronesian islands. The Papeete rally was organised by the Puhi Hau peace committee. Puhi Hau can be translated as “Peace Wind”

and to many deeply religious Polynesians the cyclones that have twice devastated Moruroa in recent weeks were divine “peace winds”. Resolutions adopted at the rally were addressed to French President Mitterrand and the Vice-President of French Polynesia’s Government Council, Gaston Flosse. They called on President Mitterrand to: work for disarmament and the abolition of nuclear weapons, respect the desire expressed repeatedly by French Polynesia’s Territorial Assembly for an end to nuclear testing in the territory, make public the full facts about the Moruroa tests, and publish all the studies that armed forces doctors claim to have made since 1966 on the medical consequences of nuclear testing. The resolution also asked the president when the nuclear wastes were to be cleared off Moruroa Atoll, when the poisoned Mangareva lagoon was to be cleaned up, and when the scientific team promised several months before by the government emissary Haroun Tazieff was going to arrive to make its “detailed study” of the Moruroa Atoll.

Of Gaston Flosse the rally demanded that he act on his own resolution of December 21, 1981, for the setting up of an impartial committee of inquiry into nuclear testing, and the establishment of a permananent territorial radio-biological laboratory. Marie-Therese and Bengt Danielsson.

France Denies Vanuatu Claim On Islands

French Defence Minister Charles Hernu in March denied that a party from Vanuatu had landed on the uninhabited islands of Matthew and Hunter which are in dispute between France and Vanuatu. Earlier, Port-Vila reports had claimed that a group of people from Vanuatu had raised the Vanuatu flag on the islands.

Mr Hernu said that the French patrol vessel La Dunkerquoise had noticed a Vanuatu yacht in the vicinity of the islands. But, he said, the yacht had departed without “entering New Caledonian waters”.

Vanuatu Orders Journalist Out

The Vanuatu Government in March ordered the deportation of English-born journalist Christine Coombe who runs the weekly Voice of Vanuatu, the country’s only non-government newspap er. Ms Coombe, who also writes for PIM, was given 14 days to leave the country in a letter from Home Affairs Minister Sela Molisa. The letter declared her an “undesirable person”, but gave no reasons. Ms Coombe is reported by Radio Australia as saying that the reason for her deportation is that her paper has carried a number of reports that could have embarrassed Prime Minister Walter Lini. The paper has reported an impending legal action against the prime minister and the government in relation to an international loan he is said to have negotiated for Vanuatu.

NZ, PNG, FIJI, REACT TO SOZ DEVALUATION A March devaluation of the Australian dollar by 10 per cent prompted New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji also to devalue their currencies. Under the new exchange rate, the Australian dollar was worth UScB5.5. Australia’s new Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, said the devaluation was necessary be cause of a recent huge capital outflow from Australia. He said the move would enable local industries to compete more effectively against imports, and encourage export industries to make maximum use of any world economic recovery. The Australian devaluation was the first big adjustment to Australia’s exchange rate since November 1976. New Zealand devalued its dollar by six per cent, which the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, described as “a confounded nuisance”. Australia is New Zea land’s biggest trading partner. PNG announced that its basic currency unit, the kina, would be devalued by five and a half per cent against a range of currencies. About 30 per cent of Papua New Guinea’s total budget is made up of Australian aid, and the devaluation of the kina has avoided a huge gap in the budget.

Fiji devalued its dollar by two-and-three-quarters per cent.

Government finance officials in Vanuatu and Solomon Islands were reported to be still considering how their countries would be affected by the Australian devaluation. Before the devalua tion, the exchange rate for Vanuatu’s money was 90 vatu to the Australian dollar. The rate later became 81 vatu. The Solomon Islands dollar had been falling in value, and was worth about the same as the devalued Australian dollar.

Solomons Minister Freed Amid Protests

In Solomon Islands the release in March of a government minister from prison after serving only a month of a three-month sentence has caused a storm of protest. The Minister for Telecommunications, John Ngina, was jailed in February after being found guilty of causing another man bodily harm, and was released in February after appealing to the Committee of Mercy.

All the committee said publicly was that Mr Ngina was freed on welfare grounds. But the parliamentary opposition attacked the decision as an irresponsible act of favoritism. The opposition said that unless the reasons for the release were better explained, the public could only decide that Mr Ngina was freed because he was a minister. Other prisoners at the central jail in Honiara went on strike in protest. They refused to do any work, and a prison spokesman said they will be charged with not obeying lawful orders.

Png Public Service Union Leaders Sacked

Most of the executive members of Papua New Guinea’s Public Employees Association have lost their jobs with the government because of a February strike by several hundred public ser vants. The executive had called the strike in protest at the government’s two-wage structure under which foreign contract workers are paid more than local servants. Before the strike began, the government warned that it was illegal and that anybody who failed to work would be sacked. Most public servants ignored the strike, but the government compiled a list of several hundred who failed to report for work. Their jobs were to be advertised. Among these were the jobs held by members of the executive of the Public Employees Association.

FIJI TO CHECK SHIPS FOR AFRICAN SNAIL Fiji quarantine authorities in future will check all container ships passing through areas infested with the giant African snail, which causes widespread environmental damage. In an effort to protect Fiji from the pest, all container ships calling at New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Western Samoa and American Samoa will be checked on arrival in Fiji. The checks which are to continue indefinitely, follow the discovery of 22 of the snails in Fiji in February. Fiji authorities believe the snails were brought into the country on a ship which called at Vanuatu.

Chemical Dump For Johnston Atoll

The US Army plans to build a multi-million dollar chemical disposal facility on Johnston Atoll, an isolated strategic military base 717 nautical miles south-west of Honolulu.

Nauru Seeks “Home” In Philippines

Nauru began a search in March in the Philippines for a home island ” The Nauruans have been told by their President, Chief Hammer Deßoburt, that an approach was made to Philippines President Marcos for an “island in the Philippines which could be utilised as a home island along with Nauru. President Deßoburt said Nauru had been told that four islands, any one of which would be suitable for their needs, were available Nauru is about 4500 km from the southernmost islands of the Philippines.

Presumably, Nauru’s president is looking for a holiday island tor NOW e pALAU GETS BRITISH POWER PLANT Negotiations have been completed for the building in Palau of a new power station by Ipesco International Power Systems, or London. A complex financial package, negotiated over nearly 12 months, will provide funds for the new power plant and also tne first international loan contracted by Palau in its own right.

Guarantors of the loan package are the British Government and five international banks, the Morgan Grenfell, the Morgan Guarantee Trust of New York, the Bank of Tokyo the Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Scotland. The funds are being provided by the Westminster Bank, of London. The amount ot the loan has not been divulged. The new power station will eventually satisfy all Palau’s power requirements including he whole Babeldaob (Babelthuap) area where the new Palau capital will be sited and will also include a fuel storage facility which, through the resale of fuel, will provide funds for servicing the loans and operating the plant. Ipseco and the republic will jointly manage the power station for 10 years with pseco supplying the senior management team. Construction will begin

in two months. The new power station will be similar to one by Ipseco in the Marshal Islands.

Sp Breweries Swallows San Mig

Papua New Guinea’s South Pacific Breweries, a subsidiary of the big European firm Heineken, has taken over its rival, San Miguel, subsidiary of San Miguel of the Philippines, paying $A1.37 million for more than 90 per cent of the shares. Both companies lost money in a beer price war last year which cut the price in Port Moresby by nearly a third. San Miguel never made a profit in PNG.

Call For Islands Commonwealth Centre

Fiji’s Minister for Education, Dr Ahmed Ali, has called for the establishment of a Commonwealth-sponsored centre catering specifically for Island states in the South Pacific. Dr Ali said an Asia-Pacific centre already operated in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. But the needs of Island states differed consider ably from those of the large metropolitan countries and the region should have its own facilities. Dr Ali made his call in Suva in March when opening a course for youth workers from Pacific Island countries. The course, organised by the Commonwealth Youth Program, aims at developing the skills of youth workers and was attended by representatives from Papua New Guinea, Western Samoa, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Nauru and Fiji.

New Home For New Caledonia’S Unions

Union organisations in New Caledonia in February moved into their new headquarters building in Noumea. The building called Union House was built with funds provided by the territorial government.

Png Says Farewell To Kumul I

The Papua New Guinea Government’s controversial VIP jet, Kumul I, left the country for the last time in March. The jet was bought by the former Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan, in early 1981 for about $7 million. The new PM, Michael Somare, made the jet an issue in last year’s election campaign, and promised to < sell it if elected. Kumul I left Port Moresby for Denmark, where it: will be sold.

Leadership Code In Action In Png

The chairman of the Papua New Guinea section of the!

Australian company Burns Philp has resigned after being told to( do so by the PNG Ombudsman. Mekere Morauta joined Burns?

Philp late last year, after leaving the PNG’s Governments? finance department. Mr Morauta was secretary for finance fon about eight years, and one of the first Papua New Guineans toe head a government department. Under the country s stnett leadership code, heads of government departments may nott become directors of private companies for at least three yearss after leaving government service. Mr Morauta asked the Uhietr Ombudsman, Ignatius Kilage, not to enforce the ban in his case,.; but the Ombudsman stood firm. Mr Kilage praised Mr Morautas for following the rule and resigning.

Islanders Talk Of Volunteers Scheme

A conference on regional co-operation ini the Pacificheldl in Western Samoa has discussed the possibility of establishing o volunteer organisation for the region. Under the scheme, Pacific Islanders would volunteer their services to help people ano governments in other Pacific countries. The conference waj sponsored by the Hawaii-based Pacific Islands Developmenr Program and the University of the South Pacific, Suva.

“Fighting Zone’’ In Bougainville?

The Premier of Papua New Guinea’s North Solomons Province: Leo Hannett, warned in March that the Bum area of south Bougainville might be declared a fighting zone. Fighting zone are regularly declared in the troubted highlands < pf I PNG but noo in any of the country’s five island provinces. Thedeclaration< gave police extra powers to curb lawlessness. Mr Hannett. warning followed the ransacking of the Bum provinciall hig«£ school and other trouble in the area. A I Radio Australia coires oondent in Rabaul said the unrest m Bum began m Fobruari when people demonstrated against the national government nomination of a Bougainvillian public servant, Leo Morgan, to open a building at Buin, instead of the MP for North Solomonsi Father John Momis.