Briefs

Cooks high customs duties Cook Islanders are complaining about high customs rates being charged on gifts. One woman was charged NZ$7O (US$44) on baby clothes sent from her mother-in-law in England. Another had a NZ$l7OO (US$lO9l) jacket sent to New Zealand for dry cleaning, only to be charged NZ$4OO (US$256) when it was couriered back. Local media has received complaints about cus toms charging duty and value added tax to varied items like video tapes of rugby games, wedding gifts, shoes and book.

But a customs spokesman who did not want to be named said people who received a gift that was bonified unsolicited worth less than NZ$65 (US$4l) should have to pay duties r tax. He advised people who were charged for the gifts, to go to the head office for the reassessment of their costs.

Drought hits PNG The worst drought conditions in the Papua New Guinea Highlands for almost 30 years has resulted in people dying from starvation. The drought also caused the

shut down of the Porgera gold mine for the second time in three months. The drought blamed, on the El Nino weather cycle, caused water levels to drop to less than five percent in a nearby creek and reservoir.

When this issue went to press, 10 people had died in the Oro province. Nine children and an elderly man died from starvation and shortage of water. Food gardens had withered and dried up forcing the villagers to depend on sago which would not last long unless there was rain. Rivers and creeks were also drying up mak ing life more difficult for the villagers and forcing them to move to the provincial town on Popendetta.

In the Manus Province, about 20,000 people were in desperate shortage of water as most areas of the province was facing acute water shortage. More people were dying and government sources suspected that this would increase. The PNG Electricity Commission has also imposed electricity restrictions and called on consumers to cooperate by conserving power.

Fiji accepted as IPU member Fiji has been formally accepted as a member of the Inter parliamentary Union (IPU). Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr Apenisa Kuruisaqila told members of the IPU council meeting in Cairo that members of parliament were repre sentatives of a multi party system.

He said the importance that Fiji attached to being affiliated to the union was evident from the large number of delegates which attended the meeting. He also informed the IPU council that Fiji had just completed its constitutional review and had adopted elec toral reforms to establish democracy.

PNG churches oppose VAT The Papua New Guinea’s Council of Churches has strongly opposed the government’s initiative to introduce value added tax

next year. General secretary Rev Kila Pat said that government’s move was untimely and will have a widespread effect on the aver age people. He said churches throughout the country were con cerned because the general workforce will have a serious 10 per cent charge on goods and services tax. He urged government to defer the introduction of the tax until people were fully aware of its effects.

Feared extinction for bluefin tuna Environmental lobby group Greenpeace says the world’s most sought after fish, the southern bluefin tuna could be extinct by Year 2020 if present fishing levels continue. It said a report by Australian scientists warned that even the official quota of 11,750 tonnes would give the souhthem bluefin tuna a greater than 10 percent chance of extinction.

It says the international catch had exceeded the official quota by as much as 5000 tonnes in recent years which would increase the probability of extinction by Year 2020 by more than 50 per cent. Greenpeace called for a ban on fishing until the species had time to recover. Officials from Australia, Japan and New Zealand will begin talks to set fishing quotas for next year’s season.

Rabuka thanks India for support Fijian prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka has expressed apprecia tion at opposition leader Jai Ram Reddy’s

initiative in going to India to brief the Indian government on constitutional develop ments. Rabuka said he was very pleased with the expression of goodwill and support by Indian leaders for the people of Fiji.

Reddy who met the Indian prime minister, Indar Kumar Gujeral, and other senior political leaders, also believes India will actively support Fiji’s application to rejoin the Commonwealth.

Rabuka has also invited the Indian government to re-open its embassy in Fiji. India’s embassy in Fiji was forced to shut down in 1988 for alleged interference into Fiji’s internal affairs follow ing the coups of 1987.

Solomons to be observer in peace process Solomon Islands is to be included as an observer in the peace process on Bougainville under the Burnham Declaration. This was agreed on during formal talks between the newly elected prime minister Bartholomew Ulufa’alu and his PNG counterpart, Bill Skate during talks last month.

During the talk, both the prime ministers committed them selves to build on the progress made so far under the Burnham Declaration which stipulates a peaceful resolution to the Bougainville crisis. They agreed that the peace process on Bougainville be approached on a time frame basis such as that on the issue of the future of New Caledonia.

Reconstruction of school buildings completed Reconstruction of primary school buildings on Tonga’s

Tongatapu and Eua Islands damaged by Cyclone Hina this year had been completed. The 300,000 pa’anga (U 55219,000) project was funded by the Tongan government. Under another project, New Zealand and Australia have funded the construction of new accommodation for primary school teachers in some islands at Ha’apai and the two Niuas. The two countries donated about 200,000 pa’anga SUSS 146,000) for this project.

Vanuatu's new minister of finance Veteran Vanuatu politician Vincent Boulekone has been appointed the new minister of finance. Prime Minister Serge Vohor appointed Boulekone only hours after sacking Willie Jimmy from the post.

Vohor wrote to Jimmy requesting him to resign or be sacked.

But Jimmy refused to resign. Vohor sacked Jimmy because he has discredited the government’s position on its Comprehensive Reform Programme (CRP). He said Jimmy had written a critical letter to the Asian Development Bank, one of the main institutions behind the government’s reform initiative, opposing the bank for its backing.

Families renew call for Kangu enquiry The families of Papua New Guinean soldiers massacred at Kangu Beach by Bougainville rebels have renewed their call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into deaths. Ten soldiers and a policeman died in the massacre. The families said that even though a defence force investigation report had been furnished to the Chan/Haiveta government, they maintain that only an inde pendent and impartial inquiry will bring out the truth.

Bill introduced not to recognise the name Samoa American Samoa representative, Seti Lopa, has introduced a bill which will stop the territory from recognising Western Samoa’s name change to just Samoa. Lopa’s bill stated that the people and government of American Samoa would not recognise use of the name Samoa by the independent state of Western Samoa. Lopa said he was prompted the bill during the last mini South Pacific Mini Games in American Samoa when Western

Samoan athletes were referred to as Samoans and the local ath letes as American Samoans. He said the reference made it seem that locals were less Samoan than those from Western Samoa.

FSM to survey labour force The government of the Federated States of Micronesia is preparing to conduct two nationwide surveys later this year that will provide updated information about the FSM labour force and household income and expenditures.

This information will be used by the department of resources and development for government economic planning purposes.

Forty high school graduates are now being recruited for the sur

vey project.

Corruption rife at customs department The customs inquiry report in Fiji has revealed that corruption is rife in the customs and excise department. The report recom mended that the department undergo a major overhaul with early retirement of senior staff who were found to be inefficient.

The report also stated that corruption varied from collusion with traders and the acceptance of money to carry out illegal acts or not to carry out their duties in a proper manner.

But the report also stated that while corruption occurred at all levels of the department, not all officers were corrupt.

Samoan PM criticised by sacked chief auditor Samoan Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana has rebuffed claim by sacked chief auditor Su’a Rimoni Ah Chong that he (Alesana) lied in parliament to ensure the chief auditor’s ousting. In a 20minute speech on national television, Alesana said stories pub

lished in several papers in which Ah Chong called him a liar, were all wrong. Alesana insisted that Ah Chong had been given fair treatment by cabinet and the Human Rights Protection Party following his two-year sus pension for tabling a report in 1994. The

report alleged top level corruption and financial ineptness within the government. M