Pacific Briefs

Warning against travel to Solomons

Washington, DC (PIR) — The State Department has warned again travel to the Solomon Islands because of continuing political and ethnic violence in the country.

A department spokesperson said ethnic unrest during the last two years has devastated the country’s economy and contributed to a general breakdown in law and order.

Police have been unable to restore security in the capital, Honiara, despite a November peace accord intended to end two years of ethnic conflict, and hundreds of automatic weapons remain in the hands of former militants.

Food sought for Burmese refugees

HAGATNA (PIR) — The Salvation Army has begun accepting donations to help feed hundreds of Burmese awaiting asylum hearings before the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The refugees say they fled religious persecution in their homeland.

Many of the Burmese have been sponsored by church organizations on Guam, but collecting enough money to feed everyone is proving difficult, Salvation Army Captain Dave Harmon said.

At least 1,000 Burmese refugees are on the island and by law cannot work until they receive asylum status, which could take several months.

Move US military training to Guam

NAHA, Okinawa (PIR) — Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine has told the prefecture assembly that he will ask for Tokyo’s assistance in transferring some U.S. military training exercises from the southern Japanese island to Guam.

Inamine said that the sprawling American military presence had become “unbearable.”

Okinawa, 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo, hosts half of the 47,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan. It has been an important U.S. base in the Pacific since it was occupied at the end of World War II. However, recent incidents involving U.S. military personnel have led to widespread demands for a reduction in the military’s presence.

PNG is China’s top partner in Pacific

PORT MORESBY (PIR) — Papua New Guinea is China’s largest trading partner and recipient of assistance among Pacific Islands region nations.

The Sino-PNG Trade and Economic Relations report for February 2001 shows that since 1976 the total assistance provided by the Chinese government to PNG has amounted to $63.31million.

Papua New Guinea is also China’s leading Pacific trading partner.

Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta has announced plans to make a state visit to China later this year.