Pacific Briefs

Australia may restore Fiji trade privileges

CANBERRA, Australia — Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has announced that Australia will restore special trade privileges to Fiji if Suva gives a firm guarantee that democracy will return within 18 months.

Fiji’s garment industry normally sells 70 percent of its product to Australia. However, import concessions were scraped following Fiji’s May 19 coup, severely reducing Fiji exports.

Downer said Fiji’s interim government has responded to Australian pressure by agreeing to reduce the timetable for new, democratic elections from three years to 18 months.

Polynesian Airlines to resume Hawaii service

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — Samoa’s Polynesian Airlines will resume air service between Apia and Honolulu November 25, said airline spokesperson Toleafoa John Nickel.

The Samoa government-owned airline suspended U.S. service nine years ago after it encountered financial problems.

Toleafoa said roundtrip Honolulu flights, using a new Boeing 737-800 jet, have been scheduled for Thursdays and Saturdays, with the possibility of additional flights depending on passenger demand.

The same plane also will fly the Apia-Sydney, Australia route.

Indonesian leader meets with West Papuans

JAKARTA, Indonesia — President Abdurrahman Wahid has met with West Papua independence leader Theys Eluay to discuss resolution of rising violence in the New Guinea Island province.

The meeting is the first between the two since 31 people were killed earlier this month in fights that erupted after police hacked down poles flying the separatist Morning Star flag.

Eluay said there are still differences between President Wahid and the people of West Papua, but he told reporters that both sides had agreed to set up a joint committee to try to resolve the flag issue.

Nakamura outlines forum agenda

KOROR, Palau — Outgoing Pacific Islands Forum chair and Palau President Kuniwo Nakamura said in an interview that regional security, given the problems in Fiji and the Solomon Islands, will top the agenda at the annual Pacific leaders’ summit beginning Friday in Tarawa, Kiribati.

“We want to find out how other Forum member countries could help the embattled Fiji and the Solomon Islands governments address very sensitive security issues,” President Nakamura said.

The shipment of nuclear wastes through the Pacific and the establishment of a Pacific whale sanctuary are other matters on the agenda.

U.S. checks out forged passports in Marshalls

MAJURO, Marshall Islands — An attempt by several Chinese nationals to enter the United States through Majuro with forged U.S. passports last month has resulted in an on-site investigation by David Zebley, vice consul of the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines and a diplomatic security agent.

Zebley is assessing whether the Marshall Islands is being targeted as a new transit point for entry into the U.S. by Asian criminal groups.

“They’re trying to avoid the traditional routes – Korea, Philippines and Japan – where immigration officials are more on the alert for forged passports,” he said in a Marshall Islands Journal interview.

The Asian criminal groups often reuse a forged passport more than once, taking it back from the “buyer” after they get to the U.S., Zebley said.

“The passports are bought for about $5,000 from American citizens, who later re-apply for a new passport on the ground they’ve lost theirs,” he said. (Pacific Islands Report)