From around the region

Headlines

Papua New Guinea

Malaria outbreak

claims 48

Hospitals in the Kerowagi area of the

country’s Simbu province are

struggling to cope with the outbreak of malaria which has claimed 48 lives by the first week of June.

This was revealed by the Minister of Health, Peter Barter, who returned from the area after an investigation tour accom panied by a team of experts.

Barter also warned the malaria could spread to higher altitudes if a control pro gramme was not in place soon.

The team visited the lower region of Kerowagi where nearly 29,000 people have been hit by disease.

The Health Minister said the team were to submit a full report and an action plan by June 13 to the Health Department, Simbu province and the National Emergency and Disaster services ■ ■ ■

No to World

Bank reforms

The Country’s Commerce and Industry Minister, David Mai, has strongly opposed the World Bank’s direc tive to the government to phase out its list of activities reserved for nationals before it can implement economic reforms.

In a strongly worded statement, Mai criticised the Bank’s insistence on having the programme phased out within a three year period, adding that the exercise will not be concluded in the given time frame.

According to Mai, the regulations con taining “reserved activities” will remain in force despite the directive from the World Bank. He said the reserved list must not be blamed as the sole reason for rushing PNG into abiding by all the principles of free trade and, as such, the bank’s direc tive was premature.

The minister said he will be pushing for the government to show a degree of flexi bility in the policies and practices it adopts while at the same time adhering to directives from multilateral agencies such as the World Bank.

Solomon Islands

Greenpeace at war

with government

Greenpeace has slammed the recent ly revealed secret by a high level Solomon Islands government delegation to Russel Islands to convince landowners there to accept the government’s resettle ment scheme.

“It’s a scandal that with a looming financial crisis in the country, the govern ment is spending thousands on a secret mission in support of a Malaysian clear felling logging operation,” said Lawrence Makili, Greenpeace Solomon Island

Forest Campaigner.

A government navy patrol boat left Honiara to escort the secret mission to Russel Islands. The landowners were not informed that the mission was arriving.

Makili said they are attempting to ambush the people of Russel Islands and force them to accept a resettlement scheme that they have already compre

hensively rejected.

He said the logging and resettlement scheme was unanimously thrown out by landowners in December and March.

Makili also asked why a government minister, elected by the people and paid from public taxes, was going against the wishes of the indigenous landowners and supporting a Malaysian company’s log ging of their lands.

In response to warnings from the Prime Minister, Solomon Mamaloni, that the government would closely monitor NGO activities, Makili said: “We will also be

stepping up our monitoring and scrutiny

of the government of the day. The warn ings from the Prime Minister is simply an acknowledgement that we NGOs have exposed the government’s corrupt under belly on the Pavuvu logging issue.” ■ ■ ■

Ship captains

in trouble with

the law

The masters of six Taiwanese fishing boats charged with breaches of their fishing permits have been committed for trial by the High Court.

Chief Magistrate Denzil Seneviratne referred the matter to the High Court after

a preliminary inquiry had satisfied him there was sufficient evidence to commit the skippers for trial.

The six captains pleaded guilty to three counts each for their involvement in ille gal fishing activities in Solomon Islands territorial waters.

Their committal to the High Court means there are now seven Taiwanese waiting to be tried.

The captain of Man Sheng Eleven, Jan Rung, who faces eight counts of breach ing his fishing permit, including one of evasion of customs duty, was the first to plead guilty.

Fiji

Sell shares to

save: Minister

The government says it will sell off its major public enterprises if new reforms cannot make them operate prof itably.

Cabinet has approved legislation to reorganise and commercialise its public enterprises.

The Public Enterprise Bill will cover post and telecommunications, electricity, housing, civil aviation, ports, water and sewerage, as well as the national bank.

The Minister for Commerce, Industry, Trade and Public Enterprises, Jim Ah Koy, says many of Fiji’s public enterprises have failed to deliver and have been a constant drain on the public purse.

He says his ministry has studied legis lation in Australia and New Zealand in drawing up the Bill and the government can now get out of enterprises it thinks would be best operated commercially.

Cook Islands

Cooking up a

new menu

The Development Investment Council has approved the draft of a document that will promote the country to overseas investors.

Known as the Investment Promotion Guide, it contains information about the islands and outlines investment incen tives.

The Development Investment Council

was established in February to consider investment proposals from domestic and

foreign enterprises.

The council makes recommendations to the Monetary Board (which is com prised of cabinet members) on issues relating to these proposals.

In addition, the council in examining the existing Investment Code of the Cook Islands and incentives provided in the Development Act (1977).

The council is expected to bring back many investors who had left the country after scandals relating to business ethics surfaced earlier this year. Cook Islands has had to revert to the New Zealand dol lar after confidence in its dollar dropped dramatically when the scandals were reported by the media. ■ ■ ■

Exchange of

convicts approved

A Cook Islander serving a four-year prison term after a rape conviction in Western Samoa will be the first person involved in a new a Transfer of Offenders agreement.

The two countries signed the agreement in February this year. The agreement came after both countries passed legislation to allow such transfers.

Foreign Affairs Ministry and Western Samoan authorities are co-ordinating the transfer of Arerau Arona Tinirau who will serve the rest of his sentence in Cook Islands.

Police Inspector Richard Browne trav elled to Apia to escort Arona back to Rarotonga on May 28.

There was much public debate in the Cook Islands last year over Arena’s wish to be allowed to serve his remaining three and half years in the islands where he has a wife and three children.

Marshall Islands

Greenpeace

on standby

for Mururoa

Ten years after French agents sank the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, another ship bearing its name is on standby to leave for the nuclear test ground in Mururoa Atoll.

Greenpeace New Zealand executive director Ella Henry says New Zealand police and the Security Intelligence Service are working with Greenpeace to protect Rainbow Warrior 11.

French agents planted bombs on Rainbow Warrior in 1985, killing a crew man and sinking the ship just before it was due to leave for Mururoa.

Henry says the New Zealand SIS and police were being helpful. She said the two organisations were still angry at the French over 1985 and were working closely with Greenpeace.

Greenpeace New Zealand and its coun terparts in Paris and London are consider ing sending the ship to Mururoa, as a way of pressing the group’s anti-nuclear mes sage and galvanising international opposi tion to testing on the atoll.

France’s new President, Jacques Chirac, says he’ll keep France’s nuclear force at sufficient levels to maintain defence credibility, but he has not said if this meant he will resume the tests halted by Francois Mitterrand in 1992.

Meanwhile, Philippines President Fidel Ramos has urged France to abandon any plans of resuming nuclear testing in the South Pacific.

In a statement, President Ramos said the Philippines was concerned with the issue of nuclear testing because of envi ronmental damage it causes and other haz ards it poses to countries in the area.

American ships

divert

The country’s ship registry is contin uing to add new ships to its ranks, but is keeping a low profile to avoid angering United States trade unions.

The unions say that flagging US vessels in the Marshalls will cost Americans their sea jobs because companies will no longer need to hire US seamen. Some unions have filed lawsuits in an unsuccessful effort to stop the switch to the Marshall Islands flag.

Reflagging of five Sea Land ships and six new American President Lines ships in the Marshall Islands is almost complete.

Vanuatu

Parties brace

for elections

Political parties are positioning them

selves for national elections towards the end of the year.

The national executive council of the opposition Vanuaaku Pati says its theme of unity is the key to winning the elections and it will be holding its silver jubilee congress next month.

The coalition government’s junior part ner, the People’s Democratic Party, is holding its second general forum in Pentecost next month. They are expecting 200 to 300 delegates to attend.

The congress of the ruling Union of Moderate Parties was held in late May, and ended in disarray after it failed to endorse the names of the party’s candi dates requested by its sub-committee.

Sub-committee leaders have been told to review the names of their candidates for an extra-ordinary congress in July.