In brief: Confusion over police suspensions

There is confusion in Samoa surrounding the recommendations of an inquiry into allegations of abuse and misuse of power at Tafaigata prison.

Confusion over police suspensions

SAMOA – There is confusion in Samoa surrounding the recommendations of an inquiry into allegations of abuse and misuse of power at Tafaigata prison. The government suspended the Police commissioner, Lilomaiava Fou Taioalo, and the prison warden and assistant commissioner, Sala Seaga Uili, while the inquiry was carried out. The suspension of Lilomaiava and Sala will continue for another four weeks to allow the Ombudsman’s office to carry out an inquiry under the Police Act. But the Prime Minister, Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, in his weekly radio programme says the commission of inquiry’s recommendations has been accepted by the cabinet. Tuila’epa says the suspended officers are still receiving their wages and have public vehicles for their use.

Trouble brewing over airport project

VANUATU – Vanuatu’s opposition says it will boycott tomorrow’s sitting of parliament because it strongly disagrees with the government’s way of dealing with a major airport project. The government has been in talks with a Singaporean company to build a new international airport on Efate and modernise others around the country. An opposition MP, Kalvau Moli, says a committee set up to vet the plans has been kept in the dark. “That meeting has seen no documents, no detailed documents and there has been no due diligence made regarding the proposed airport. Therefore it is very premature for the government to continue to go forward with the airport.” Moli says the opposition also disagrees with the terms demanded by the Singaporean company.

New Zealand to help set up parliament

FIJI – New Zealand is to provide financial support for re-establishing Fiji’s parliament. The New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully has announced New Zealand will make a US$1.3 million contribution to a UN-led project providing support for IT and Hansard equipment, new MPs and parliamentary staff. McCully is on his first visit to Suva since New Zealand lifted sanctions on the Fiji regime last month in recognition of progress towards the September polls and he says that progress is continuing. “Areas like the parliamentary clerks, the cabinet office, institutions around key government agencies – those are all areas in which I’d expect to see an increase in activity between New Zealand and Fiji and frankly it’s one of the reasons that the sanctions had to be removed.”

Confusion over rejection of UN visit

NAURU – An opposition MP in Nauru says the government needs to clear up confusion around claims from a UN team that it was blocked from coming to the island to inspect the treatment of asylum seekers. Earlier this week a member of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said Nauru had revoked an invitation to the island, citing unforeseen circumstances. But the government says it did not invite the group to visit and only read of their intentions in the media. The MP Mathew Batsiua says if there was a misunderstanding the government could clear it up quickly and allow the team to come in. “There should be no reason whatsoever that the government are not allowing an inspection team from the United Nations to come to Nauru, I mean what are they hiding?”

Plea for UN to revisit West Papua

WEST PAPUA – West Papuan separatists say they want the United Nations to revisit their case, claiming they were denied their rights in the 1969 Act of Free Choice. The UN-sponsored vote by a selection of chiefs is widely decried as a sham that allowed Indonesia to annex the former Dutch colony. Last weekend, rebels who crossed into Papua New Guinea hoisted the United Nations flag alongside West Papua’s banned Morning Star flag. Stanley Iko from the Free West Papua Campaign says West Papua’s people feel as if they are fighting this battle alone. “You know, everywhere in the world if there are gunshots or a massacre or somebody has been murdered, around the world people get up from their seats and jump up and down and you know, start making a lot of noise. In West Papua, nothing. Nothing of that sort.”