Briefs

Hjft drought intensifies

Village food crops are dying and water borne diseases are on the rise as a drought caused by the El Nino weather phe nomenon intensifies. The dry spell which began in September is now getting worse and the Meteorogical Department expects it to worsen. The drought has seen creeks and wells in the rural areas of the north and western parts of the country dry up with thousands in villages and settlememts reliant on emergency water supplies.

Skate may face mutiny charges Five Papua New Guinean soldiers have been found guilty of a day-long mutiny in July when they held their commander under armed arrest at Port Moresby’s mili

tary headquarters. The mutiny charges are

being treated as criminal offences and carry a maximum penalty of life imprison ment. The mutiny trial heard that the sol diers placed Brigadier General Leo Nuia and another officer under house arrest.

The trial also heard evidence that two of the accused briefed Prime Minister Bill Skate on the mutiny, two days before they acted. The judge said that if the informa tion was correct, Skate could be charged with mutiny. The prime minister denied any prior knowledge of the mutiny.

PM denies involvement in passport scam Vanuatu Prime Minister Serge Vohor has denied any involvement in an alleged passport scam after allegations by ombuds man Marie-Noelle Patterson that he, immi gration head Jean-Marc Bell and citizen ship commission chairman Kepue were

involved in a scheme to sell passports to Asians from China, South Korea, Japan,

Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia,

Vietnam, Cambodia and Hong Kong. She recommended Vohor and his Foreign Affairs Minister both resign granted the “seriousness of the issue”.

Payments unjustified

A special audit into the Fiji parliament shows the payment of more than $F178,00 ($US116,000) to some MP’s in allowances to which they were not entitled. Fifteen parliamentarians including the Minister for Fijian Affairs and two assistant ministers were given as much as $F 19,000 (SUS 12,000) in accommodation allowance while they maintained homes within 30km of the parliament buildings. The audit also questioned the payment of about $F51,000 ($U533,000) to the leader of opposition, Jai Ram Reddy, as full time leader when he was hardly in the office. In response, Reddy has alleged that the newspaper report highlighting the payments was part of a political campaign by certain elements to discredit him* ■