PACIFIC BRIEFS
PORT MORESBY, Papua New – More than 100 West Papuans have crossed into the Papua New Guinea border town of Vanimo following the December 1 crackdown on pro-independence supporters by Indonesian security forces.
The refugees, mostly women and children, began arriving over the weekend, saying that they were fleeing the Irian Jaya capital, Jayapura, following the arrest of Papua Presidium Council vice president Thomas Beanal.
Meantime, Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta reaffirmed the Papua New Guinea government’s policy of regarding Irian Jaya as an integral part of Indonesia.
Irian Jaya shares a 420-mile ill-defined land border with PNG.
Indonesia sends warships to Irian Jaya
JAYAPURA, Indonesia – Thirty-seven warships have been deployed off the Irian Jaya coast, in what a senior naval spokesman said is part of a “sea exercise.”
The deployment, however, follows tightening pressure on Irian Jaya independence supporters.
A number of leaders have been arrested during the past week and face subversion charges.
No democracy, no investments –– U.S. envoy
SUVA, Fiji Islands – U.S. investment in Fiji will not take place unless democracy is re-established in the country following the May 19 coup, American Ambassador Osman Siddique told the Fiji-USA Business Council over the weekend.
Siddique said, “Neither the people nor the private sector want a future in which investors exist in a fortified island surrounded by seas of misery. Democracy gives us a chance to avoid that future.
“I want more American investments in Fiji,” he said, “but before any American dollar can come in, you have to make sure that the commercial environment is fair and not exposed to undue risks.”
FSM Faichuk statehood plan passes 9-1
PALIKIR, Federated States of Micronesia – Faichuk, a group of eight islands and home to 20,000 people in Chuuk state, appears headed toward statehood of its own.
Voters in Faichuk and other citizens now living in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and Hawaii cast 90 percent of their ballots in favor of statehood during a recent plebiscite.
Faichuk could join Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae and Yap as a fifth state in the confederation if the Federated States of Micronesia Congress approves.
60 dead, 30 sick from PNG poisoned water
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea – Sixty people have died and 30 others are recuperating in the hospital from alleged water poisoning in Komaio, a Gulf Province village, Governor Riddler Kimave told Parliament Monday.”
He demanded that the government carry out an investigation immediately to establish the precise cause of the poisoning.
Kimave told Parliament he initially raised the matter with the Department of Conservation, whose minister suggested it was a matter for the Department of Health.
A frustrated Kimave said that the problem was serious and should not be kicked around between government departments and ministries.
An investigation to determine the cause of the deaths now is under way. (Pacific Islands Reports)
