Letter From Suva

The Papua New Guinea Government has yet to officially name its candidate after its Melanesian Spearhead Group meeting announcement that it was interested in putting forward someone. Three ministers, including the prime minister, have put forward nominees.

Word from Port Moresby is that Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare is backing outgoing Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Secretary-General Noel Levi for the position.

Deputy prime minister and trade minister Dr Allan Marat is promoting former foreign secretary Gabriel Dusava, now his special trade adviser. Foreign minister Sir Rabbie Namaliu favours Sir John Kaputin.

Sir John's name, it is understood, was presented to Cabinet by Sir Rabbie as PNG's nominee. But it is believed Sir Rabbie was asked to review the proposal in light of the two other candidates. Mr Levi, Mr Dusava and Sir John all have credentials in foreign affairs and regional work.

But Papua New Guinea must remember that to be successful at ACP, there are two essential key ingredients.

First, a candidate must be known throughout the ACP, and that includes throughout Africa and the Caribbean and not just the Pacific Islands and Brussels.

Second, the candidate must also be well respected by ACP member countries.

So which of the three would be PNG's best bet? Both Mr Levi and Mr Dusava are not as well known in ACP circles as Sir John. Sir John, a former PNG foreign minister, is not only highly regarded in the region, he is also well known and well respected throughout the ACP countries.

He served on a number of joint ACP/EU fact finding missions, in both the Pacific and Africa.

He also served as a co-president of the ACP/EU Ministerial Joint Assembly.

There was a time when the amount of time he spent away on ACP work was questioned in Papua New Guinea. Now he could reap the reward for those long hours on ACP duty.

Sir John is believed to have already received Cook Islands backing from Prime Minister Dr Robert Woonton, who served with him on some of his ACP missions.

Samoa's Dr Luteru is not a bad candidate either. He has impressive academic credentials and an established track record of ACP work experience. Being in Brussels will also work in his favour.

Dr Luteru is well known to the ACP/EU ambassadors based there and is seen "generally as competent in his performance thus far as ASG (assistant secretary-general)," an ACP observer said.

It is the ambassadors who will hammer out the initial agreement or compromise on the new secretary-general. Their influence on the decision of the ministers in this appointment is massive, the ACP observer said.

Another important factor that could add more weight to Samoa's bid is that this Polynesian country has an experienced ambassador in Brussels who is well connected to the ACP community. He will not be idle now that his country has an official candidate.

Papua New Guinea currently has no ambassador in Brussels after problems over its position there. These problems are unlikely to have helped Papua New Guinea.

The ACP secretary-general position is currently held by Jean-Robert Goulogana, of Gabon.

His four-year term expires in 2005 and his successor is expected to be appointed at the next ACP heads of state and governments summit in Mozambique next year.

The understanding is that it's the Pacific's turn at the ACP helm. The ACP Pacific region comprises 15 Pacific islands countries: Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Niue, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshalls, Fiji, Cooks, Kiribati, Tuvalu and the newest member, East Timor.

Fiji's Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase is currently the chair of the ACP group.

The ACP has become a growing international force and it has emerged as one of the key groups representing the developing world. But while it is seen as the Pacific's turn to head the secretariat of this influential group, it could also easily be ruined. This time around the Pacific countries need to avoid a repeat of the debacle surrounding the appointment of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Secretary-General.

There must be none of the traditional rivalries and petty jealousies that enabled Australia to take advantage of a divided Pacific. Pacific ACP countries have decided to advertise the position as widely as possible to allow Pacific Islanders who are interested, to apply. The applications, to be forwarded to the Forum Secretariat, will be looked at by the ACP Pacific member countries when they caucus before the Mozambique meeting next year.

"The worst scenario is for the Pacific region to submit two names to Brussels, if there is no consensus on a candidate," a Brussels-based diplomat said.

Both of them may be rejected because giving the ACP Council two names would send clear signals in particular to the ACP states that the Pacific is not united and some among them may see it as an opportunity to extend the term of the current incumbent.

"It's a worst case scenario because it will have further divided the region so soon after the debacle surrounding the appointment of the Forum S-G, and on top of that it may give rise to a situation where the Pacific region will not get the top post at the ACP as well."

The split in Auckland and the recent failure to support a joint Pacific Islands candidate for the Tuna Commission headquarters suggest that the Pacific Islands are far from united at the moment.

If this continues through into the ACP decision, the Pacific will probably not get the job. Even if it is the Pacific's turn. The message to Pacific Islands leaders couldn't be clearer.