Politics
Howard's Attitude Arousing Heartburn
Now region told be cautious
Some heartburn is being aroused in the Pacific Islands about the use the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, has at last decided he has found for them.
In his time as Australian leader, Howard, by avoiding most meetings of the annual South Pacific summit, the Pacific Islands Forum meeting, has caused a strong impression that he¹s too pre-occupied with mightier matters to have much time for micro-state affairs. This year's Pacific Islands Forum didn¹t rate an appearance by even Howard¹s foreign minister. But Howard¹s re-election for a third term in office on November 11, is attributed by numerous Australian political analysts to the success of his strategy in making a cynical play for the votes of a big segment of the electorate that is opposed to the admission of would-be immigrants smuggled illegally into Australia aboard boats from Indonesia. With an offer of A$20 million, Howard has dumped 795 Afghans, Iraqis and Palestinians in Nauru, where the government is so short of money it often can't pay the civil service.
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It has pressed 216 on Papua New Guinea, which is heavily dependent on Australia for its budget and other aid.
It is nagging Fiji to accept 1000 or more. After the Fiji election in September, Australia alone lifted sanctions it imposed with New Zealand, Britain and other countries after the coup of May 2000. Other countries say they won't move on the sanctions until a February court ruling on the legality of the Fiji cabinet. Fiji is heavily dependent on Australia for garment export quotas and other trade concessions. Kiribati has offered to accept 500 boat people at Kanton Atoll. Australia initially denied it had asked one of the smallest of Pacific states, 27-square kilometre Tuvalu, to take unwanted Asians for a period of "processing" of applications for legal admission to Australia. But in mid November, Tuvalu said it had been approached, as did Palau. While full details of the deals with Nauru and Papua New Guinea have not been published, the Australians have declared that all dumped Asians will be removed from a host country after about six months. But later Australian remarks indicated that such presence could be for a year or more. Another report mentioned a period of up to five years. In Nauru, the presence in a fenced and guarded compound of the refugees, some of whom appear to be genuine refugees and others simply in search of an easier life, has aroused some local resentment. There is predictable condemnation from Papua New Guinea's opposition politicians More significantly, Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta sacked his foreign minister, John Pundari, after his staff leaked a letter Pundari wrote to the Australian High Commissioner, Nick Warner, without the cabinet's knowledge, saying he opposed the dumping of more refugees on Papua New Guinea. In November, Fiji was uncomfortably digesting an Australian request to accept what foreign minister Kaliopate Tavola said would be up to one thousand "or more" refugees as temporary visitors. The former leper hospital island of Makogai was being mentioned as a possible camp. Many cabinet ministers were known to be opposed to the plan. The deposed former prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, attacked it, saying that Fiji had too many problems of its own to solve without importing one of Australia's.
Even the president, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, broke convention by publicly condemning the proposal. Tavola denied the government might agree to help Australia simply as a pay off for the lifting of light sanctions. In mid November Howard aroused more suspicions about his motives for bundling illegal refugees off to the Pacific Islands when in a Radio Australia interview said their presence in "processing" camps might be extended.
In Port Moresby, the Australian high commissioner promptly issued a statement saying that a pledge to remove them within six months or as soon as possible afterwards would be honoured.
The Forum's secretary-general, Noel Levi, says that Pacific Island governments face "unknown risks" in agreeing to help Australia with its refugee headache.
Speaking at a meeting in Port Vila in October at which officials of regional agencies discussed illegal immigration, the HIV-AIDS threat, and other pressing issues, he said that while Pacific Islanders traditionally were always ready to help people in need, a big influx of refugees would put "extreme pressure" on their already very limited resources.
"This emerging refugee market in the region, where Forum Island countries lease out their territories for quarantine and processing services, carries unknown risks," Levi said.
"Yet it is evolving rapidly without the necessary legal and policy framework to ensure its proper and equitable regulation."
Levi urged island governments to look at the refugee issue in a co-ordinated manner and "look at what can be done to address this problem of mass migration at its source.
"We cannot ignore the role played by organised people-smuggling operations taking advantage of the most vulnerable and desperate, offering promises, which they cannot meet, and the use of our members in such schemes," he said.
