pacific report
pp. 7-9 · Read in the full issue
Forum-Us Tuna Deal
In Sight
The eighth round of multilateral fishing talks between the United States aand the South Pacific Forum nations were due to begin in Hawaii early this month.
While no agreement was reached in the April round in Canberra, the parties issued a statement saying some prog ress had been made during the week long session. The two key issues still to be resolved are levels of fees to be paid by US vessels for fishing rights and areas from which US boats will be excluded. The forum nations are seek ing fees similar to those already paid by the other foreign fleets, while the Amer icans have maintained they have a need for special consideration because of their unfamiliarity with local fishing con ditions and their unique difficulties under US legislation. However, the island na tions point to the fact that their proposals are similar to the conditions the US imposes on distant water fleets operat ing in its own waters. Estimates of the 1984 American Tunaboat Association catch in the central and western Pacific suggest a total of 220,000 tonnes compared with less than 10,000 tonnes in 1980.
Mara Launches Petrol
Pricing Probe
Fiji’s ruling Alliance Party’s decisioin making body, the National Council, has urged the government to consider na tionalising three oil companies operating in the country Mobil, Shell and BP.
The plan has the support of prime minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara who has asked the body to submit a more detailed proposal. Mara had earlier criticised the companies for not passing on the benefits of the world oil price slump and accused them of making excessive profits at the government’s expense. He has appointed a committee of ministers to examine oil price fixing methods.
Pollution Alert At Ok
Tedi Mine
Australian scientists have expressed mounting concern about pollution from Papua New Guinea's Ok Tedi gold and copper mine in the country’s Western Province. The Australian High Commis sion in Port Moresby asked mine officials for technical information following a request from the Australian Conserva tion Foundation in Canberra whose concern increased after the PNG gov-
ernment allowed the mine to continue operations without a permanent dam to retain mine waste. Scientists are con cerned over metals from the Fly River flowing into the Torres Straits.
Mamaloni Fined For
Airport Offences
Solomon Islands Opposition leader and former prime minister Mr Solomon Mamaloni was fined $215 in Honiara Magistrates Court after being convicted of offences at the capital’s airport last October. The court heard that Mamaloni had threatened to blow up a small private aircraft. He was convicted on charges of carrying a lighted cigarette within 15 metres of an aircraft being refuelled, disorderly conduct and threatening a person.
Davis Presses For
Regional Air Rules
The Cook Islands is pushing for a uniform system of regulations governing civil aviation in the South Pacific. Prime minister Sir Tom Davis has put the proposal to the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation in Suva.
Medical Spending “All
Wrong”
The South Pacific Regional Health Directors’ Conference in Noumea heard that while huge sums were being spent
worldwide to find a cure for AIDS many countries still had trouble controlling diseases such as malaria and leprosy because of lack of funds. Doctor Quen tin Reilly, Papua New Guinea’s Secre tary for Health, said some researchers studying the AIDS outbreak were using grant funds in their quest for a Nobel Prize. He said priorities in world medical spending were all wrong.
Bougainville
Profit Soars
Bougainville Copper Ltd. made a profit in 1985 of K2B million (SA37 million approx.), up by 150 per cent on the previous year's figure. The government will get K 41.6 million ($A55.4 million approx.) out of the company’s income through taxes, dividends and royalties, an increase of 10 per cent on the previous year. The total dividend will be seven toea a share.
Businessmen Seek
Devaluation
A group of leading business figures in Fiji have called for the Fiji dollar to be devalued by some 20 per cent. The campaign was spearheaded by Mr Jeffrey Reid, chairman of Western Min ing, who said the country could gain more for its exports if the dollar were devalued. But deputy prime minister and finance minister Mr Mosese Qioni baravi rejected the proposal. He was backed by tourism and commercial sector leaders who said the economy would be severely damaged by higher import costs.
Png, Indonesia To
Combine Against Opm
Indonesia and PNG are likely to take a joint stand against Irian Jaya separatist rebels after PNG Defence Force com mander General Tony Huai visited In donesian military chief, General Benny Murdani in Jakarta. General Huai said there was an urgent need to stamp out rebel activities on the border which had caused unnecessary trouble for the two countries. He described the OPM rebels as a nuisance and a bunch of terrorists.
General Huai also inspected resettle ment camps for returned border cros sers in Irian Jaya.
Uni Hints At Soviet
Fish Pact
Vanuatu prime minister Walter Uni con firmed that he is studying the possibility of a fishing agreement with the Soviet
Top left: Prime Minister Lini-Soviet fishing deal would be no threat to the US.
Top right: Former Prime Minister Mamaloni -fallen foul of the law. Above: PNG’s mammoth mine on Bougainville.
Union. He told Reuters that he wanted to keep the superpowers out and allow Vanuatu to develop its own identity, though this would not stop him from making a fishing deal with the Soviets.
He said he did not see this as a threat to the United States. The subject is likely to be discussed when Australia’s foreign minister Mr Hayden tours the region this month. A spokesman for Mr Hayden said in Canberra that Australia had reservations about such agreements but recognised that any decision was a matter for individual countries. However, the Australian government believes that agreements of this nature may allow the Russians to gain greater influence in the region. A spokesman for Father Uni told Radio Australia that Vanuatu had asked the Soviets for more details of a fishing application last year but that these had not yet been received.
Two Seek Least
Developed Status
Two of the most isolated Pacific Island states, Kiribati and Tuvalu, expect to be added to the United Nations list of least developed countries. This will allow them access to concessional loans from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund while their exports will also qualify for special tariff rates under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The only other Pacific island nation on the list is Western Samoa.
Kiribati and Tuvalu hired a consultant to help in their submission to the UN. He is Mr Ron Fergie, formerly a statistician with the PNG government. Previous attempts by the two countries for least developed nation status were rejected on the grounds that they do not have low rates of literacy and gross domestic product. However, Radio Australia re ported that, having gained the support of the UN Development Planning Com mittee, their addition to the list is now far more likely.
Palau Agrees To
Us Bases
After years of resistance, Palau has agreed to the installation of US military bases in exchange for partial independ ence and increased aid. The deal if ratified will remove the last obstacle to the construction of an arc of US defence installations in the Western Pacific stretching from the Northern Marianas to Guam, the Marshall Islands and Palau. However, the vote for the "Compact of Free Association” which would leave defence in US hands for the next 50 years has still to be ratified by the US Congress and the UN Trustee ship and Security councils. The US said Palauan leaders has already con ducted surveys for building a submarine base at the sheltered Malakal harbour and an air base near Palau international airport. Reuter.
Png Looks Far
Afield For Aid
Papua New Guinea expects to receive more than SA2SO million worth of aid over the next five years from countries other than Australia as a result of recent changes in government policy. Foreign Minister Legu Vagi told the PNG Parlia ment in March that the new policy of accepting aid tied to purchases of equipment and expertise from donor countries would allow PNG to be more aggressive in seeking assistance. New projects already under discussion in clude a British proposal to extend Port Moresby airport, and a Japanese plan to link the capital with the city of Lae via a trans-island highway. Mr Vagi said the European Economic Community would also play an increasingly important part in PNG’s development. Mr Vagi appealed to the US, Canada and indi vidual European countries to consider providing assistance to PNG.
Province, State,
Poser In S.L
The Solomon Islands Minister for Home Affairs, Andrew Nori, has appointed a six-man committee to review the provin cial government system, which, at pre sent, is based on seven provincial assemblies with elections every three years. Mr Nori said the committee would study the possible introduction of state governments. The government of Solo mon Mamaloni, who believes in decen tralisation, created the present system but the present government of Sir Peter Kenilorea prefers a more centralised system.
Lapita Homeland
Project Success
One pf the richest archeological sites in the Pacific has been located on Papua New Guinea’s Bismarck Archipelago by a major international research expedi tion organised by the Australian National University (ANU). The university said the expedition found strong evidence of long-term settlements in the archipelago by people associated with Lapita pot tery, the people who later swept through the Pacific. The Lapita Homeland Pro ject was organised by the ANU’s pre history department of the Research School of Pacific Studies and brought together 11 research teams from Austra lia, New Zealand and the United States, including leading researchers in Pacific prehistory. The project chartered a small ship, the Dick Smith Explorer, for six months to service the scientists working in the Bismarck Archipelago, off the north-east coast of PNG. The co-ordina tor of the project, Dr Chris Gosden, a visiting fellow in the prehistory depart
merit, said the expedition was an out standing success in terms of expanding the number of known Lapita sites.
Sixteen new sites have been recorded including one which is believed to be the richest found in the Pacific, on Elaoua Island, north of the New Ireland main land. — MS.
Png Govt. Sells
Off Its Houses
All PNG government-owned houses pro vided for politicians and public servants, except the houses of the governor general and the prime minister, will be put up for sale, Prime Minister Paias Wingti has announced. Housing allow ances will be given instead of accommodation, and low-interest loans made available for home-buyers through government-controlled finance institu tions. Complaining that maintenance of government houses had proved to be a big hole in the government's pocket, Mr Wingti said it was "not the state’s responsibility to look after these people”, and added; “we will be saving millions and millions of kina by carrying out this exercise." It is anticipated that house prices will fall with thousands of prop erties flooding the market.
Tonga Ceremony
For New Wharf
King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga has formally commissioned an extension to the Queen Salote Wharf at Tonga’s main port of Nukualofa. Funds for the project were provided by the Australian Deve lopment Assistance Bureau. Australian High Commissioner to Tonga, Brian Smith, said in handing over the wharf that it was one of the largest sheet piling wharves in the southern hemisphere, using 2500 tonnes of steel. The exten sion provides three new berths — one international, and two inter-island. Mr Smith said the project was a good example of co-ordination among Tongan and Australian engineers.
Remelhk’S Killers
Get 35 Years
Three men convicted of the assassina tion of Palau president Haruo Remeliik have been sent to prison. Melwert Tmetuchl and Anghenio Sabino received 35-year sentences while co-defendent Leslie Tewid received 25 years. The three had faced maximum sentences of life imprisonment. Saipan judge Robert Hefner, the head of a three-judge panel that convicted the men, did not explain why the sentences were lower than the maximum permitted. The three will be come eligible for parole after serving one-third of their sentences.