Pacific Region News

Malaita premier denies Guadalcanal attack

HONIARA, Solomon Islands — Malaita province Premier David Oeta has denied reports that his constituents attacked the Guadalcanal provincial government’s offices on Saturday.

More than 200 people from Malaita allegedly threw stones at the offices in Honiara while Premier Ezekiel Alebua was at work.

Oeta has condemned the incident, but said that until the government fully addresses the ethnic issues causing dissention among the people of Malaita and Guadalcanal provinces, such incidents may increase.

Fiji labor dispute spawns food crisis in Tuvalu

SUVA, Fiji Islands—Villagers on eight Tuvalu atolls face the possibility of food and water shortages because their supply vessel is dry docked at a Suva shipyard and cannot be released due to a labor strike.

Efforts by Tuvalu state secretary Saufatu Sopoaga to obtain the ship, the Nivaga II, were unsuccessful Monday.

“The refusal by the parties involved is inhuman,” Sopoaga said.

“The Tuvalu government is beginning to get very frustrated with the way your (Fiji) government, the union and the receivers handled our case,” he told officials.

Sopoaga said if the dispute continues Tuvalu will consider international assistance to get its vessel back.

Group seeks better treatment of Pacific females

SUVA, Fiji Islands—The Fiji Women’s Crisis Center has announced that the death of 18 girls in a Tuvalu dormitory fire last week serves as a reminder of the need for change in how females are treated in the Pacific.

A spokesperson said it is “shameful” that authorities lock up young girls and women, who have to make prisoners of themselves, because of the constant threat of violence and society’s blatant discrimination with regard to adolescent sexuality.

The center representative said women must organize themselves to bring about changes, which will ensure this type of incident is never repeated again.

The 18 girls and their supervisor died when a fire, started by a candle, swept through the girls’ locked and window-barred dormitory at a school on the island of Vaitupu.

Coral Air threatens to block Niue Air services

AUCKLAND, New Zealand—The Niue government has been warned that it will be sued for breach of contract, if it walks away from an agreement with Coral Air to set up a new airline for the island nation.

If Niue fails to honor the contract, Coral Air consultant Ray Young said the airline, which is ready to begin operating between Niue and New Zealand, will demand $22-million compensation for lost revenue.

They also will ask the New Zealand courts for an injunction to halt all air service to Niue, Young said. (Pacific Islands Report)