TOP STORIES

PIDF is much ‘broader and inclusive’

Mixed reactions are emerging over the core aims of the Pacific Island Development Forum (PIDF) hosted by Fiji between 05^th -7^th August 2013. Chief among its supporters was Kiribati President Anote Tong who praised the summit for its broad and inclusive approach to addressing specific development challenges in the Pacific. President Tong is optimistic about the role of PIDF at international fora. He also applauded the forum organisers for the notable presence of the private sector and civil society representatives who he suggests are largely excluded from high-level political forums where the diverse challenges of the people are regularly decided. Fiji’s Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama suggested that the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) could no longer attest to being agent of the entire Pacific Islands region. Bainimarama says that PIDF will be more representative of the interests and needs of Pacific islanders under a new framework for cooperation. (more…)

TOP STORIES

PNG-Australia asylum deal sparks debate

Kevin Rudd’s policy of transferring all asylum seekers arriving by boat to Papua New Guinea for processing and resettlement may prove to be an election winner in Australia. In PNG it has sparked widespread social media condemnation of the O’Neill government, and raised concerns about how the country could manage an influx of asylum seekers, and where they would be resettled. The policy bombshell was announced in the same week serious concerns were exposed about the outsourced security and management arrangements at the Manus island detention centre. Other countries in the region may be asked to sign up, despite views that the policy treats the Pacific as Australia’s dumping ground. Fiji’s foreign minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, has criticised the policy and its implications for all Melanesian countries. (more…)

TOP STORIES

Micronesian Presidents summit

Finance and fibre-optic cables seem to have topped the agenda at the recently concluded Micronesian President’s summit held in Palau. The Presidents of FSM, Palau and Marshall Islands also discussed “Compact impacts” (referring to their Compacts of Free Association with the US), the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum meeting in the Marshalls as well as the potential use of drones for maritime surveillance in their areas. (more…)

TOP STORIES

Rudd returns as Australian PM

After three years of maneuvering his way back into the top job, Kevin Rudd is prime minister again following a Labour leadership spill. Julia Gillard has gone to the backbench and several prominent ministers have resigned. Rudd’s new cabinet line-up keeps Bob Carr as foreign minister and former Pacific parliamentary secretary, Richard Marles, has been promoted to cabinet as minister for trade, while Matt Thistlewaite remains the current parliamentary secretary for the Pacific. (more…)

TOP STORIES

West Papua decision delayed: MSG summit gets underway

Political leaders and officials from Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia’s indigenous political movement—the Front De Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS)—have gathered in Noumea for the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) summit. (more…)

TOP STORIES

PNG repeals Sorcery Act, enacts death penalty

The parliament of Papua New Guinea has responded to a spate of globally publicized crimes with legislative amendments. In the same session that the Sorcery Act, which provided a defence for violent attacks on suspected sorcerers, was repealed, the parliament voted to apply the death penalty to a longer list of crimes — including high-level corruption — by imposing stricter penalties for white-collar crimes, kidnapping and theft. (more…)

TOP STORIES

French Polynesia re-inscribed on UN decolonisation list

Former president Oscar Temaru managed a last minute political victory, seeing French Polynesia re-inscribed into the United Nations decolonisation list on the same day he handed over his presidency to Gaston Flosse. The resolution was introduced to the 193-member UN General Assembly by Solomon Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu, Samoa, Vanuatu and Timor-Leste. The United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and the Netherlands all disassociated themselves from the consensus vote and the French boycotted the meeting. (more…)

TOP STORIES

Solomon Islands PM urged to table TRC report

As Solomon Islanders debate the wisdom of Bishop Terry Brown’s unilateral decision to release the long awaited Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report, Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo is being urged to table the report in parliament. Bishop Brown has told Radio Australia true reconciliation will only come about when Solomon Islanders know the facts surrounding the ethnic tension that erupted in 1997. He added that he hoped his decision to unofficially release the report would push the government to address the commission’s recommendations. (more…)

TOP STORIES

MSG revs up for leaders’ summit

The Melanesian Spearhead Group has become the focus of considerable activity in the lead up to the Leaders’ Summit in June, in spite of accusations from Fijian opposition leader Mick Beddoes that the organization is ‘embracing dictatorship’. Fijian PM Bainimarama has suggested the group might assist with election monitoring in 2014. Vanuatu foreign minister Edward Natapei meanwhile visited Fiji to formally make amends for having slighted Fiji’s Voreqe Bainimarama in 2010. The West Papua National Council for Liberation (WPNCL) continued its membership campaign with visits to New Caledonia and Solomon Islands, an idea to which the membership seems to be warming. In a wide-ranging interview with PiPP, MSG chair Peter Forau underlined Sir Michael Somare’s ‘historic’ statement that the MSG is not an intergovernmental organisation, and admitted there is a sense that the people of West Papua could find a place in the organisation. The vision of an economic union (discussed in the next item) was touted as well by outgoing chair Bainimarama. (more…)

TOP STORIES

Fiji constitution submission deadline extended

Fiji has extended the draft constitution submission deadline until April 26^th. The extension comes amidst heightened levels of criticism of the draft constitution in its current form. The Citizens Constitutional Forum released a report (pdf) outlining its main concerns, the United Front for a Democratic Fiji held a public meeting and Rewa high chief, Ro Teimumu Kepa, led a delegation through Suva to deliver their rejection of the draft directly to the Attorney General’s office. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama responded by suggesting the draft was being ‘misrepresented’ by certain individuals and NGOs.

Bainimarama also recently revealed the current government would be joining him to form a political party that will seek election next year. Whether there will be any other parties remains to be seen, with the registrar yet to give any contenders the all-clear sign to run.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Laisenia Qarase was released from prison last week, having served seven months of a one-year term. But given restrictions under the draft constitution, Qarase looks set to be excluded from the proposed 2014 poll.

(more…)