PACIFIC BRIEFS

Faleomavaega disputes UN decolonization claim

WASHINGTON, DC (PIR) — American Samoa Congressman Eni Faleomavaega has criticized United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan for making comments supporting independence for the US Pacific territory.

Speaking before the UN Decolonization Committee in New York, Annan urged the United States to cooperate fully with the committee to achieve independence for the only US territory south of the equator.

Faleomavaega said American Samoa was not colonized through conquest or annexation, but rather through a mutual agreement between traditional leaders and US officials.

“I don’t think he understands the entire situation,” Faleomavaega said.

Military group says Solomons peace deal unraveling

MELBOURNE, Australia (PIR) — The Australia Defense Association has concluded that the Solomon Islands peace agreement is coming apart and Australian peace monitors there may have to be withdrawn.

The defense group said weapons are not being handed in to peace monitors as provided for under terms of the Townsville Peace Agreement, brokered by Australia last October.

The association said some guns used during a two-year ethnic war between Guadalcanal and Malaita islanders are still in the hands of Malaitan militants and the police.

There may have to be a new peace agreement, the organization suggested.

Tropical cyclone Sose heading towards NZ

PORT VILA, Vanuatu (PIR) — Cyclone Sose is continuing to intensify in the South Pacific, and is now heading toward New Zealand.

The strongest cyclone of the current Pacific summer season has already claimed one life. Radio Vanuatu reported that a flying coconut hit a 60-year-old man as he tried to find shelter on Malakula Island.

At last report, Cyclone Sose was about round 170 nautical miles east of Nouméa, New Caledonia with winds up to 72 miles an hour.

3 bodies found in Irian Jaya

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya (PIR) — Police in Manokwari have declared an all-out war against members of the Free Papua Movement, OPM, following the discovery of the bodies of three logging company employees.

Their bodies had been cut into pieces.

OPM members who attacked the logging camp on March 31 kidnapped the three workers.

The Manokwari police unit has ordered the arrest, dead or alive, of the rebels who killed the three migrant workers.

He said the hunt for the rebels will not end until they are captured.

American Samoa buys up Samoa’s fish

APIA, Samoa (PIR) — American Samoa is the top importer of fresh fish from Samoa, according to a report by the Central Bank of Samoa.

Fishing company representatives say they now are working on expanding local fleets to expand exports to American Samoa’s two giant canneries.

The Central Bank’s report also identified Samoa’s other major exports as coconut cream, garments, beer, taro, cigarettes and nonu.

Samoa’s nonu products are popular with Samoans residing in Hawai’i and the US West Coast as a medicine for mild illnesses.