rippling Pacific

Gulf War still rippling Pacific

FIJI, along with 34 other countries, is contributing a contingent to UNIKOM, the 1,440 Strong- United Nations Iraq Kuwait Observation Mission which will police the boundary between the two countries.

The force will cost the UN 5123 million for the first year, and Secretary General Javier Perez De Cuellar took the opportunity to remind members of their outstanding bills (See March PIM) for existing operations, saying that UNIKOM’s success depended on pay ment. Looming behind his diplomatic prose was a hint that the USA, a major player in the Gulf War, was still half a billion dollars in arrears to the UN.

Iraqi chemicals for Johnson?

SECURITY Council Resolution 687, which set down terms for ending the war, calls for the Iraqis to hand over their chemical and biological weapons, to be destroyed, removed or rendered harmless “taking into account the requirements of public safety”. Several South Pacific Ambassadors are concerned whose

public safety? Ambassador Renagi

Renagi Lohia of Papua New Gunea told PIM, “I have heard in Washington that there is discussion of using the Johnston Atoll site for disposal of weapons out of Iraq. The South Pacific Forum has a clear position on this. I was with our Prime Minister Rabbie Namaliu last year when President Bush spoke on it, so I know that any use of the island beyond what was agreed would cause trouble with South Pacific governments”.

Other South Pacific Forum diplomats also feel that President Bush had given them clear assurances at the Hawaii Summit last October that the detoxification facility on Johnston Island would not be used after its current task of destroying US chemical weapons.

They are supporting PNG’s approaches.

“But,” Lohia added, “Without legis lation, we are still worried that there may be an attempt to use Johnson Island.”

Beijing boost for Somare

THE campaign to get Sir Michael Somare as the first Pacific Island Presi dent of the UN General Assembly, is still on course. By now the Asian group of states would normally have met to decide on a consensus candidate for the position, which is their “turn” this year. As revealed in PIM (February) Somare has attracted overwhelming support within the Asian group, and this April China’s 3 rime Minister Li Peng publicly pledged Beijing’s support for him during a visit by

PNG Premier Namaliu. In contrast, the other candidates, from Yemen and Cyprus, would not, or could not, tell PIM of any definite supporters they had in the Asian group.

The main delay is that Cyprus is threatening to disrupt the UN’s tradition of consensus, by insisting on a vote in the General Assembly, where it hopes its candidate will gain support from the Non-Aligned Movement. However, PNG’s Ambassador Lohia, acting as campaign manager for Somare, told PIM, that support for Somare already had been received from Uganda, cur rently the Chairman of the Organisation for Afican Unity, from Dominica and other Commonwealth Carribean na tions, and from Latin America.

Vanuatu plays host A delegation of “Parliamentarians for East Timor” met UN Secretary General Perez De Cuellar in New York on March 25. Led by Lord Avebury, a member of the British House of Lords, the del egation included members of the parlia ments of Japan, Netherlands, Portugal,

and Australia. The or ganisation has 200 mem bers in 15 countries around the world. Vanu atu MP Hilda Lini was unable to attend as she wished, but the Vanuatu mission compensated for her absence by sponsor ing a press conference at the United Nations.

The delegation sought assurances from Perez De Cuellar that the UN resolutions on East Timor would be treated with the same seriousness as those involving Kuwait. While not going that far, the Secretary General assured them that the resolutions were indeed still in force.

Lord Avebury told PIM “We told him we welcomed the new active policy of the UN in relation to violations of the Charter”.

His response: “On the whole I was extremely pleased. I didn’t expect him to say that the discussions between Portugal and Indonesia were under the framework of the Resolutions ... but he told us that his doors were always open to members of the East Timorese Community. That has to be alliance between FRETILIN and the UDT who between them received over 90 per cent of the popular vote in the only free elections ever held in East Timor.”

When asked what progress was re ported in the Secretary General’s dis cussions on the issue, Lord Avebury told PIM that he referred to the proposed visit of Portuguese parliamentarians to East Timor which had been under discussion for four years.

“It is not a lot to show for nine years work by the Secretary General,”

Avebury commented.

Garrie Gibson, the Australian Federal Member who recently visited East Timor, said that the country “still bore the strong stamp of being occupied”, that there were no signs of economic develop ment, water supply was critically low, and malaria mosquito infestation was

widespread.

Asked by PIM for comment on the US State Department’s ambigous stand, recognising the annexation but not that there had been a legitimate act of self determination, Lord Avebury stressed that 400 US congressmen had supported resolutions on East Timor but that parliamentarians did not always have full control of their administrations.

Similarily, when invited to comment on the unanimous South Pacific Forum support for the independence of New Caledonia and the fact that only Vanu atu supported the East Timorese, Lord Avebury diplomatically refused to specu late on the motives of Forum members, but pointed out that Indonesia had a great deal of clout in trading and

political power not just in the region, but in Europe, the United States and Japan.

That, he said, was a fact that could not be neglected in establishing why particular countries had voted in favour of Indonesia in the General Assembly. Indeed, some East Timor supporters

saw signs of Indonesian influence in the UN’s record of the Press Conference. The first version omitted some details including PlM’s questions which were, after protests, reinstated in a revised and reissued version.

More for NGOs A SIGNIFICANT part of the environ mental aid budget for the South Pacific is earmarked for strengthening non

government organisations (NGOs).

UNDP’s Pacific Region is providing 5150,000 support for a regional meeting of the Pacific Island Association of NGOs (PIANGO), probably in Pagopago, Am erican Samoa, in September. PIANGO is the joint product of the Foundation of Peoples of*the South Pacific and the Commonwealth Foundation, who had been working separately on networking the region’s voluntary organisations. In 1987 they set up a steering committee which has since been working on getting NGOs together at national and sub regional level. The four-day meeting later this year should encourage mutu ally supportive networking a key UNDP concept which could enhance its Environment and Women in Develop ment themes. □