proposed

Papua New Guinea

Malaysian company accused

of destroying land

Cocoa farmers in PNG’s East New Britain province have accused a Malaysian logging company of destroying their land.

The farmers claim the logging company moved onto their block of land without warning last May and are destroying the

remaining forest.

They says about four months ago bulldozers and timber jinkers owned by the Malaysian company Kerawara crashed onto their land and started felling stands of timber. The farmers protested but despite being told by the PNG Lands Department the Malaysian company had no right to be there they say they can’t get any action. Six farmers have filed court action against the company and the state. ***

Aid committee

proposed

The PNG government is considering setting up a committee to deal with aid packages for smaller nations in the Pacific region. The deputy prime minister Sir Julius Chan has told parliament the proposed committee would consider requests for aid. It would also record the help given such as educating overseas students in PNG and sending magistrates to Vanuatu.

Sir Julius said PNG was not rich enough to provide large amounts of aid but felt it should assist friends who needed help.

His comments follow an announcement by prime minister Paias Wingti at August’s Forum meeting that PNG would provide about US$ 150,000 in aid to Niue.

PNG is the largest recipient of aid from Australia receiving about US$2lO million a year from Canberra.