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Battle looms if Fiji’s suspended
Australia and New Zealand might have a battle in their hands if they push to suspend Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum, when the Forum foreign ministers meet this month.
Melanesian countries have vouched to stand united behind Fiji during its troubled times.
In an urgent Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) foreign ministers’ meeting in Honiara last month, leaders emphasised that Fiji’s political situation was an “internal matter and can only be resolved by the Fijians”.
Although they expressed concern at the removal of the democratically elected government in Fiji following a military takeover in December, they urged all relevant stakeholders, national, and international communities to constructively engage, through dialogue and reasoning together with the people and government of the Melanesian state.
Chairman of the MSG and Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister Paul Tiensten said the ministers had been satisfied with Fiji’s assurances that the rule of law and human rights would be observed and democracy through the holding of a general election.
The Melanesian ministers also welcomed the commitment to search for solutions and Fiji’s desire to remain engaged with the international community.
“All efforts and support should rally behind Fiji for a quick path of recovery,” Tiensten told journalists in Honiara.
The ministers agreed there were practical measures that needed to be put in place before a general election could take place. They included conducting a national census in 2007, strengthening the election office to enable the determination of electoral boundaries, updating electoral roll, and bringing to a closure through legal measures, allegations of corruption in Fiji’s Clean Up Campaign.
However, the MSG would oppose any moves to suspend Fiji from the Forum, saying there were no provisions in the Biketawa Declaration for the imposition of penalties on member countries and any attempt to amend the declaration would be strongly resisted.
Meanwhile, the venue of this month’s meeting was yet to be decided when this edition went to press. However, there had been a suggestion by the Melanesian Spearhead Group for Papua New Guinea, as interim chair of the Forum, to host the meeting to allow representatives of the interim Fiji Government to attend.
There were talks of New Zealand hosting the meeting after Australia hosted the foreign ministers late last year.
If New Zealand hosts the meeting, there is a possibility representatives of the Fiji interim government might not be allowed to enter the country since the Clark Government has banned entry into New Zealand of members of the interim government and those involved in the military takeover.
—By Robert Iroga
A new breed of island youth?
New Zealand exports gang members to the Pacific nations, but it is parents sending them there.
Counties Manukau Police Pacific coordinator Willie Maea moves through the battleground of gangs.
The dynamics, with hardworking Pacific parents are the same in South Auckland as they are in Utah.
Church was a safe place, Maea told Islands Business, for parents who could be at ease with their children.
“Sadly, that is now a recruiting area as well and it’s not just one denomination that we have identified having this problem,” he said.
It was crucial the problem be addressed not only at grassroot level, but politically as well.
A few hardened gang individuals were influencing the many around them, wearing the latest gear and using the latest technologies—all paid for through drug dealing.
“They attract pretty young girls, they in turn attract the boys, their actions and trend are further endorsed by music video, internet sites and mobiles.
“The influences of American Hip Hop and televised lifestyles of gangsters play a major role in the street gangs we now have in New Zealand,” he told the magazine.
“For no other reason than to probably follow TCG and the likes in America, a Tongan youth gravitates more to Blue coloured gang and vice-versa for Samoans”
Many of the youth gangs name themselves after a main street they come from or areas within their towns.
“What I have come across is that even ethnic specific names like the TCG or KTs (KauTamas) have other ethnicities within them.
In Auckland, the big influence are the adult gangs: the Mongrel Mob whose colour is red, and blue coloured Black Power.
Youth and street gangs have been around since the 1960s, but Maea says a harder edge has developed in the last decade.
“Worryingly many parents don’t realise what was happening.
“Many of our parents do not even realise these problems within their homes and churches and as far as they are concerned a red or blue hanky is just that...a hanky.”
Parents can act decisively when they discover the truth.
“In many cases parents have been sending their children back to the islands as soon as they realise they are straying and not complying with family rules.”
“This was to cut the association with like-minded youth and hopefully teach the youth the error of their ways through strict village rules and village upbringing.
“Whilst there is a reluctance by the courts to do this because there is no agreement between the two countries, if a family comes up with a plan that satisfies the court that the youth will be supervised properly, then the youth is released to the family in the islands.”
Maea said many more families are doing it now, “hence the troubles we have in the islands”.
He agreed with Tongan academic Dr Ana Taufe’ulungaki that the gang lifestyle exported to the Pacific has threatened chaos: “they come out of the woodwork when events like in Tonga occur.
“What is very apparent in this new breed of youth is the lack of respect they show towards elders, authority and each other.”
—By Michael Field
Funding shortfall forces cost cutting
The Niue Government is considering several measures to cut costs, including staff working four day weeks, as it struggles with a budget shortfall of around US$1 million. Premier Young Vivian said the debts have been accumulating for some years but the situation is now serious and this is why they are considering a shorter working week for public servants. Other measures include charging for some services that have been free, such as school bus services and some health service, and reconsidering its membership of some international organisations which can be costly for a small country.
Sevele: Committed to reforms
Tonga’s Prime Minister Dr Feleti Sevele says Tonga’s political reform programme is still where parliamentarians left it last November. Dr Sevele told a media conference that the government’s proposal for the “talanoa, or talks, to continue” was still with parliament. Although there were still slight differences over the number of Cabinet Ministers to be elected by the people; the government had proposed 14 while the Tu’ipelehake Committee on reform had suggested 17, his administration was committed to the reform programme, first begun by the late King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV in 2004. Meanwhile, the Tongan government is still determined to host the 2007 Pacific Islands Forum Meeting later this year, despite the November 16 destruction of the Nuku’alofa central business district, during the riots which also damaged the new $3-million conference hall built for the meeting.
Sogavare’s armed guards withdrawn
Armed police provided under RAMSI to help protect the Prime Minister and former prime minister have been withdrawn, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Sogavare said. RAMSI has also withdrawn its vehicles, communications equipment and personnel from the Prime PM Sogavare told the Solomon Star. “The other day we had to buy a new vehicle for our own police officers who have taken over the role. “They now use walkie talkie for communications,” he said. Under RAMSI, armed police from a special unit were assigned to provide round-the-clock security and escort for the prime minister to and from work as well as at official functions. These, he said, have been withdrawn since December last year.
RAMSI’s move was understood to be linked to Sogavare’s decision to re-arm Solomon Islands police. At least 12 police officers, hand-picked by the government are undergoing specialist training in Taiwan, something that has added fuel to the simmering stand-off between Honiara and Canberra.
Faleomavaega Eni gets chair post
American Samoa Congressman Faleomavaega Eni has been elected chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Global Environment. Faleomavaega is the fourth most senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which was previously known as the House Committee on International Relations. On his appointment, he said he was pleased that American Samoa would now have a voice in serious matters affecting the Asia Pacific region. As chairman, Faleomavaega said he intends to review tsunami recovery as well as human rights and democracy efforts in Indonesia.
Samoan ordered to pay US$20,000
A Samoan man who pleaded guilty last year to a charge of assaulting a flight attendant while travelling on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu to Pago Pago, will now pay more than US$19,000 restitution to the airline.
Te’e Osoimalo, was re-sentenced at the federal court in Honolulu after prosecutors successfully appealed his original sentence. According to court documents, Hawaiian suffered a loss of US$19,518 because the flight never made it to Pago Pago but returned to Honolulu after the incident.
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