Briefs
Government
Nauru
Nauru’s political merry-go-round continued into mid-May, as the country failed initially to elect a president after national elections and then the speaker suddenly resigned, adding further chaos to the situation. The national election brought a number of new faces to the parliament, including an increase of the reform-minded Nauru First party that now has three members, its most ever. In early May, the first vote for president by the 18-member parliament split evenly three ways among former president Kinza Clodumar, former cabinet minister Ludwig Scottie and Nauru First leader David Adeang.
—GJ
As though the condition of Nauru were not bad enough, the country is now facing a $12.8 million lawsuit in U.S. courts filed by the International Commercial Bank of China for non-payment of a loan made to Nauru and the interest accruing from it. Meanwhile, Nauru is about to lose its big hotel on Guam. Banks are foreclosing on the Guam Marriott Resort, formerly known as the Pacific Star, because Nauru has defaulted on loans amounting to $21.2 million.
—ND
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Pacific
Japan’s foreign aid program was ranked last among 21 wealthy nations in efforts to help developing countries reduce poverty, a survey released in the United States in late April says. Japan is the world’s second biggest aid donor. The Netherlands was ranked the most development-friendly nation, according to the survey conducted by Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for Global Development in Washington. The survey covered aid, trade, environment, investment, migration and peacekeeping. Japan finished last because it requires heavy interest payments on old loans and for its immigration policies. Denmark ranked second, with Portugal, New Zealand and Switzerland next best.
—GJ
The South Pacific Games in Fiji in late June will be used to launch an anti-AIDS/HIV campaign. The awareness campaign will use print, television and radio advertisements in English and vernacular. Sportsmen and women from the 22 countries participating in the June-July Games are to be used as role models to support the fight against further spread of the deadly disease. The campaign is a Secretariat of the Pacific Community initiative.
—MR
Palau
After having waged a protracted and fractious battle to its bitter end, the supporters of Camsek Chin and the senator-elect himself surrendered the ninth seat in Palau’s Senate to Lucius Malsol in a specially-called April 2 national election. Chin was elected in 2000 but questions about eligibility and residence raised by members of the Senate dogged him both in and out of court and barred him from active participation in Congress.
—NC
Region
On May 6 the Secretariat of the Pacific Community signed a new “Headquarters Agreement” with France, by way of the territory of New Caledonia. The agreement is essentially a renewal of the fifty-year-old Angamarre Agreement that designates Nouméa, New Caledonia as the headquarters of the SPC. Signing for France was Pierre Frogier, the president of the government of New Caledonia. SPC Director-General Lourdes Pangelinan signed for the Pacific Community.
In other regional organization news, the Asian Development Bank has committed to improving its coverage of the Pacific region by establishing two new offices in the region, one in Sydney and a second in Suva, Fiji. The Pacific Subregional Office in Fiji and the Pacific Liaison and Coordination Office in Sydney will both open in 2004 to serve as hubs for travel and communications for ADB.
—SW
The Office of the Special Prosecutor recently indicted three legislators in an ongoing investigation of past and present government officials. Former Senators Haruo Esang and Sam Masang and newly elected vice president of the House of Delegates Anthony Bells were charged in separate civil suits for allegedly misusing public funds.
—NC
FSM
Government and College of Micronesia representatives recently dedicated the Micronesia Plant Propagation Research Center in Kosrae, the only laboratory in the FSM equipped to do advanced research in plant science. The Center is the culmination of collaborative efforts among COM, the U.S. Department of Interior, the Kosrae Division of Agriculture, FSM Congress, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The aim is to improve and increase agricultural production in Kosrae and the FSM, rid plants of disease and control invasive species.
—OW
Fiji
Fiji’s deputy speaker, Rakuita Vakalalabure, has been struck off the roll of barristers and solicitors after the Fiji Law Society disciplinary committee found him guilty of professional misconduct for his involvement in May 2000 coup leader George Speight’s “civilian” government. Evidence submitted by the Society included television footage of Vakalalabure being sworn-in as Speight’s Attorney General. Vakalalabure said in his defense he had acted for the interests of the people as a representative of a constituency. The committee dismissed his submission that charges had not been properly laid. The three-member committee said his actions justified being struck off for life, that Vakalalabure “displayed a serious lack of understanding of the rule of law and his role as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of Fiji.”
—MR
Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and his predecessor deposed prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry swallowed their pride and met on a one-to-one basis ending an impasse characterized by public mudslinging. Chaudhry was quoted in a local newspaper as saying he preferred to meet with Qarase on a one-to-one basis before the two, together with other “stakeholders,” met in a discussion forum known as the Talanoa session, initiated by Tongan academic, Sitiveni Halapua. The duo have been embroiled in a feud over Qarase’s Cabinet composition; the Court of Appeal has agreed Chaudhry’s Fiji Labor Party must be part of Cabinet. A state appeal is scheduled for the Supreme Court June 18.
—MR
Guam-CNMI
Guam and the Northern Marianas officials asked for increased U.S. financial aid during a meeting with visiting federal officials in Guam on April 28. Douglas Baker, deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Commerce and Ramona Jones, special adviser for economic policy for the insular areas, listened as government and business officials from Guam and Saipan outlined economic problems in both areas. In addition to declining tourist arrivals in both areas, CNMI officials expressed concern that its garment factories may depart once U.S. garment quotas are lifted next year.
—FW
An 80-acre lot in the northern village of Yigo was the center of a controversy when Governor Felix Camacho ordered the Ancestral Lands Commission to return the land to the Department of Education. The land was deeded by the U.S. federal government to the government of Guam in 1992 with the condition that it be used for education purposes for 30 years. The DOE was considering the site for temporary classrooms for students of John F. Kennedy High School, which was heavily damaged by Supertyphoon Pongsona in December.
—FW
American Samoa
The United States Congress has approved $500,000 to establish a computer laboratory at the government owned American Samoa Community College. The funding request was made last year by Congressman Faleomavaega Eni.
—FS
Former American Samoa resident Herman G. Lemusu could face life imprisonment without parole and co-defendant Alofaga Lemusu may also receive a similar sentence after they were convicted of drug-related charges in mid-April in Honolulu. Herman Lemusu, 38 and Alofaga Lemusu, 38 are cousins and now set to be sentenced on September 29.
—FS
Samoa
The Samoa Supreme Court ruled in late April that a decision by chiefs of Falealupo village to ban nine villagers for religious reasons is unconstitutional. Chief Justice Patu Tiava’asu’e Falefatu said the villagers’ banishment was a violation of their “constitutional freedom of religion.”
—FS
New Zealand/Indonesia
Indonesia’s Human Rights Committee has asked the New Zealand government to confirm that the matter of West Papua’s political future will be discussed when Pacific Islands Forum leaders summit in Auckland in August. Maire Leadbetter, New Zealand’s representative on the committee, has written to Foreign Minister Phil Goff to ask that West Papua’s representative be granted observer status.
—FS
Niue
Veve Jacobsen, a Niue opposition MP, says her country’s population has dropped below sustainable levels, and it will have to consider becoming part of New Zealand. Jacobsen says she is not happy about the prospect of Niue losing its independence, but this may be the only viable option. She says the population on the island has fallen to 1,200.
—ND
—Contributors: Giff Johnson, Norman Douglas, Matelita Ragogo, Nancy Chism, Scott Whitney, Olivier Wortel, Frank Whitman, Fili Sagapolutele
