Pacific Briefs

Vanuatu opposition confident of toppling gov’t

PORT VILA, Vanuatu (PIR) — The leader of Vanuatu’s opposition, Edward Natapei, is confident that a group of parliamentarians seeking to form a new government will succeed.

Natapei said the majority 29 MPs will remain solid in the lead-up to the no-confidence debate against the government of Prime Minister Barak Sope, which now is scheduled for next Tuesday afternoon.

They’ve already indicated that they have no confidence in the current administration, Natapei said. Three cabinet ministers have resigned.

Parliamentarians are gravely concerned about what he called the current government’s “financial mismanagement of the country.”

US offers to help fiji return to democratic rule

SUVA, Fiji (PIR) — U.S. Ambassador Osman Siddique told members of the Fiji Chamber of Commerce, in a speech, that there are ways the U.S. government can help the country in its effort to return to democratic rule, following last year’s nationalist coup.

Siddique said although the Fiji government has not approached the U.S. for any new support, Washington is willing to provide assistance through the Carter Foundation.

The foundation specializes in conflict resolution and reconciliation. Established by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, it has offered to mediate in helping Fiji’s leaders resolve the current post-coup political turmoil.

UN urges independence for Pacific Territories

UNITED NATIONS, New York (PIR) — United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan has urged administering powers in the Pacific to grant independence to their remaining territories.

France administers New Caledonia and French Polynesia, Tokelau is a New Zealand territory and the U.S. administers Guam and American Samoa.

In an address to the Committee on Decolonization in New York, Annan asked what the U.S. has done to prepare American Samoa for independence.

He said the U.N. will call on the U.S. to cooperate fully in efforts to achieve independence for the South Pacific territory, which has been a U.S. possession since 1900.

Move to stop threats to A. Samoa reef fish

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (PIR) — The Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources has proposing new regulations that would ban commercial spear fishing at night by divers using scuba gear.

Over the past 10 years, the use of scuba and spears has had a devastating effect on the local near-shore fish population.

Villagers and scientists agree that the fish are disappearing, and a primary cause is over fishing made possible by scuba gear and night diving.

“Traditional fishing methods that have been practiced for hundreds of years preserve the natural balance and enable fish stocks to replenish,” said researcher Professor Charles Birkeland of the University of Hawaii.

He said that night diving with scuba, spears and lights is changing the equation. The modern fishermen, Birkeland emphasized, can wipe out fish populations in a way that was not possible previously.

Vanuatu women unhappy about sex custom

PORT VILA, Vanuatu (PIR) — A women’s group is criticizing attempts to revive a custom that allows men to have sex with other women when their wives are pregnant.

Chiefs on the island of Tanna want to formalize the custom.

However, Merilyn Tahi of the Vanuatu Womens Center said men are using tradition as an excuse to keep women from seeking equality.

“It’s a form of sex slavery,” Tahi said. “It’s not right.”