Briefs

Vanuatu to regulate logging and

sawmill operations

Vanuatu’s Forestry Department will be introducing a new scheme which will regulate all logging operations in the country.

National broadcaster,VßTC said under the new scheme ‘Operating Licensing Scheme’, all logging operators will need to obtain proper licences from the Government.

The new licensing scheme will be introduced by the Forestry Department from July this year. All logging operators will need to obtain a licence from July I.

Licences will only be issued until December 31 this year, meaning that all those without licences after this date will not be allowed to operate in Vanuatu.

Acting Forestry Director, Watson John said the main idea behind the scheme is to ensure that logging operators are capable and skilled to work the forests in the country.

John said this will also ensure that the logging contractors also have a good knowledge of the requirements of the Vanuatu Code of Logging Practice.

He said the scheme will only attract operators who practice safe logging operations, and help reduce the

environmental damage caused by logging machinery. According to John, the scheme will cover large logging companies as well as small sawmill operators.PNS Anti-smoking bill to be tabled in Solomon Islands parliament The Solomon Islands Health Minister, Dr Steve Aumanu says he will be tabling a bill in parliament soon to regulate the use of tobacco products in the country.

The no-smoking bill will be tabled in the upcoming Parliamentary meeting.

In his official address to mark ‘World

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Continued from previous page Tobacco Day’ (May 31), Dr.Aumanu said his ministry was in the process of finalising the tobacco legislation. However, he said the legislation needs the support of everyone in the country, especially the country’s

legislators.

Speaking to national broadcaster, SIBC, Dr. Aumanu said one of the key components of the new legislation is setting guidelines for the advertisement of

tobacco products and smoking in public

areas. The Solomon Islands is following on Fiji’s footsteps on tobacco legislation. Anti smoking laws were introduced in Fiji last November.PNS Three PNG soldiers found guilty

on mutiny charges during

Sandline crisis Three of five Papua New Guinea (PNG) soldiers retried for mutiny during the Sandline crisis of 1997 were found guilty May 31.

But two, including Major Walter Enuma who led the operation to remove Sandline mercenaries from PNG, were found not guilty in the National Court at Waigani.

The three found guilty for mutiny during the Sandline Crisis in 1997 are Captain Bola Renagi, Captain Belden Namah and Second Lieutenant Linus Osoba. These officers were charged for raiding the Defence Force Operations Centre and putting the interim army commander on detention.

Justice Timothy Hinchliffe said he believed Major Enuma had done all he could to resolve the dangerous situation that had arisen. “He had followed the correct course and there was no possible way on the evidence before the court that Major Enuma was committing an offence or aiding and abetting someone else to do it”.

Justice Hinchliffe said there was no evidence to show any criminality on the part of Major Enuma as far as what happened after he got back to Murray Barracks on the morning in question.

Justice Hinchliffe said: “If there was any criminality on his part at that time then evidence has not been presented to this court”.

The five were found guilty of mutiny in February last year and given jail sentences.

They appealed and the Supreme Court

found an apprehension of bias which

resulted in the five not being given a fair hearing and ordered a retrial.

Outside court, Major Enuma said he would be appealing to Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta and the Government to pardon the three found guilty of mutiny.

Justice Hinchliffe said Captain Renagi had admitted being the leader of the incident on July 28 1997. He had argued that what he did was lawful. Captain Renagi told the court he had exhausted all avenues and that he had nowhere to go.

He said the trouble clearly rose out of alleged harassment and assaults by

members of the Special Operations Group

(SOG) on the members of the Special Forces Unit (SFU) and other supporters of Operation Rausim Kwik, the plan to deport Sandline mercenaries.

The 1997 Government of Sir Julius Chen had hired British mercenaries from London-based company, Sandline, to quash the rebel uprising on Bougainville.

However, then army commander, Jerry

Singirok exposed the plan and appointed

Major Enuma to throw the mercenaries out of PNG. PNS

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Continued from previous page Pacific Islanders in New Zealand to benefit from new health

strategy

New Zealand’s Minister of Pacific Island Affairs, Mark Gosche has welcomed the emphasis on the health of Pacific people in the New Zealand Health Strategy (NZHS), which was launched by Health Minister Annette King in Porirua June I.

Gosche said the NZHS listed one of its immediate objectives as addressing the health disparities suffered by Pacific peoples. “Pacific peoples and particularly our Pacific children experience huge health disparities compared to other New Zealanders and today’s strategy is a major step forward,” he said.

“This strategy seeks to strengthen primary health initiatives, improves the health of Pacific youngsters, target mental health services, enhance screening programmes and boost the number of Pacific people working in the health workforce.”

The NZHS also specifically referred to the development of a Pacific Health Strategy, Gosche said. “That strategy will address public health, health promotion and health protection programmes. It will also address primary care programmes to improve access to quality programmes for Pacific people, especially in areas where they live and work”.

“The strategy will also seek to improve community services for key Pacific health issues such as diabetes, asthma, paediatrics, mental health and maternity services, to build a stronger Pacific health workforce and to improve the collection of quality Pacific health information.”

Gosche said the NZHS provided a framework for improving the health of all New Zealanders, and recognised that closing the gaps was an essential element of this framework. PNS Small scale eco-tourism for Palymra Atoll near Kiribati The International Conservation Organisation, Nature Conservancy is to buy Palmyra Atoll near Kiribati, for eco tourism development.

The uninhabited atoll is under the civil jurisdiction of the United States Interior Department. The Director of Science with the Nature Conservancy in Hawaii, Dr. Sam Gunn said the atoll has unique forest plants, and reefs rich with fish and coral.

Dr Gunn said he wants only a small number of tourists to visit the atoll.

“We do intend to set up some very limited eco-tourism access.We believe that you can set it up so that a number of scuba divers can be there per year, a number of people can to look at the bird life without damaging the resources, but it will have to be very closely managed,” he said. (PNS) French Polynesia considers

building railway on Tahiti island

Authorities in French Polynesia are

considering building a railway between the

French territory’s capital Pape’ete and

Taravao town (centre ofTahiti island), Radio

I reported.

The radio says the idea was launched by Tahiti officials, who saw the benefits in this transport mode because a road would be too costly and space consuming.

A train connection, on the other hand, would be much faster and boost the development of this part ofTahiti, which is

a little peninsula.

The solution would also avoid necessary expropriation procedures of local landowners and costly delays in court

proceedings.

The 60-kilometre railway project would imply building two stations, at a total cost of some ten billion French Pacific Francs (CFP, around 77 million US dollars),

according to a preliminary feasibility study.

(Ofo)

Police war on banana tree virus Police in New Caledonia have declared an all-out war on banana trees and planting material, to prevent the spreading of the so

called “Bunchy Top” disease.

In a special operation, French gendarmes have since Saturday been setting up roadblocks in the capital Noumea and its

surroundings. The policemen are

systematically asking drivers to indicate whether they are carrying “any banana plants”. The operation is the second phase in a scheme initiated one year ago in the French territory. It aimed at eradicating the disease and containing its possible dissemination. It also implies a systematic destruction of all existing banana trees and fruits. ■