Pacific Briefs

Australia doubts time line for Fiji democracy

CANBERRA, Australia – Prime Minister John Howard has questioned Fiji’s claim to have a firm timetable to return to democracy.

In a report to Parliament following the Pacific Islands Forum summit in Kiribati last weekend, he said, “the jury is still out” on the interim government installed by Fiji’s military and the Great Council of Chiefs following the May 19 coup.

“There have been some welcome statements of intention by the government of Fiji,” he told Radio Australia. “However it’s fair to say the jury is still out on how those intentions actually materialize.”

Int’l crime moving into Pacific

SUVA, Fiji Islands – Law enforcement officials say the record amount of drugs confiscated in Fiji over the weekend is a strong indication that international crime syndicates are moving into the region.

About 660 pounds of heroin were seized in Suva in a joint operation involving officials from Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand and the United States.

Australia’s federal police commissioner Mick Keelty said the Pacific has evolved into a testing ground for new methods of crime syndicate activity.

Pacific Island countries that are undergoing political and social unrest, such as Fiji and the Solomon Islands, are especially vulnerable to offshore criminal activity, he said.

Hawaii Halau performing at arts festival

NOUMÉA, New Caledonia – Hawaii kumu hula Mapuana de Silva’s halau is among the featured performers at the 8th Festival of Pacific Arts now under way in North Province.

The Halau Mohala ‘Ilima dancers are among the 2,000 delegates from throughout the Pacific Islands region performing at the festival, which runs until November.”

“We want to show that we’re not just hula girls in grass skirts and coconut tops,” de Silva said. “We have a deep spirit that ties us.”

Performers and artists from more than 27 Pacific Island countries and territories are participating in the festival in the French territory.

New banana disease causes concern

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea – A new banana disease threatens production in Papua New Guinea and the bordering Indonesian province of Irian Jaya.

Scientist Ron Peterson told a National Agriculture Research Institute seminar in Lae Monday that the “blood disease” is caused by bacteria carried by insects, which attack the whole plant.

He said it is spreading rapidly and causing devastation to whole plantations. An effective way to contain the disease has not been found, he added. (Pacific Islands Report)