Pacific Region News

Police monitor Fiji anti-gov’t group

SUVA, Fiji Islands—Police have announced that over 50 indigenous Fijians met in the capital last weekend to plan a terror campaign against the Indo-Fijian led government of Mahendra Chaudhry.

The meeting was told that arson and bomb attacks will be used in the destabilization plan, according to a report in the Fiji Sun newspaper.

Assistant Home Affairs Minister Gaffar Ahmed said police have identified those involved and are closely monitoring the group. Arrests are expected to be made soon.

Solomon Is. worried over firearms

HONIARA, Solomon Islands—Government officials are trying to decide what to do with arms and other military equipment, including a helicopter, stored in New Zealand.

The weaponry was bought for defense purposes from the United States in 1997 at the height of the Bougainville secessionist war in neighboring Papua New Guinea, but never delivered to the Solomons.

Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa’alu said the arms no longer are needed and he wants to sell them. This requires the consent of the United States, however, which has not yet been given.

A. Samoa faces growing ‘ice’ problem

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa—The illegal drug “ice” is arriving in the territory from Hawaii and California and has become a serious problem, according to Police Captain Va’a Sunia.

Sunia said “we are talking about a. . . very profitable business. We are talking about a lot of money here.”

The product sold locally, he said, usually generates money that is sent back to the off-island supplier,” according to a Samoa News report. “We have information that people have died when money has not gone back to the supplier.”

The local street price of “ice” can range from $50 to about $75 for one-fifth of a gram, Sunia said, which is about five times the price in Hawaii and California.

Thousands return to Bougainville

BUKA, Papua New Guinea—Government officials plan to repatriate more than 3,000 Bougainvilleans living in the Solomon Islands by the end of this year.

Many of the people resettled in the neighboring Solomons 10 or more years ago to avoid the decade long Bougainville secessionist crisis.

Bougainville Congress President Joe Kabui said repatriation plans have been developed cooperatively among Port Moresby, Honiara and Bougainville leaders.

Church: Don’t worship bones

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea—The Catholic Church of Papua New Guinea has called for an end to the practice of worshipping the bones of the dead.

A church spokesperson said a group called the Kivung Association is encouraging its members in East New Britain province to exhume bones from graves. The practice is dividing the church, he said.

Provincial governor Francis Koimanrea called the practice is a mark of respect for the dead, which has been ongoing for centuries. The current criticism, he said, is part of a political plan to create controversy ahead of a forthcoming local election.