In brief: Policeman found dead in freezer

A recently recruited Fijian policeman was found dead in the Police Special Response Unit canteen freezer at the weekend.

Policeman found dead in freezer

FIJI – A recently recruited Fijian policeman was found dead in the Police Special Response Unit canteen freezer at the weekend. He was Tevita Mateitoga, 21, a recent recruit from the Fiji Police Academy. Police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro said the victim was last seen at the weekend. His body was found in the freezer on Tuesday. Naisoro said an autopsy would be done to confirm the cause of death. It is believed Mateitoga had returned to the unit barracks at Nasinu with two colleagues on Friday evening and had told them he was feeling hot. Police believe Mateitoga had gone to cool off inside the canteen freezer, eventually falling asleep.

Plea for nails, hammers and saws

SOLOMON ISLANDS – The town of Buin in the south of Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville is requesting building materials and tools from the province’s government after strong earthquakes left homes destroyed. The 7.5-magnitude quake on Saturday followed other large quakes the previous weekend. The executive manager of Buin town, John Itanu, says a house collapsed on a woman, who survived but was taken to hospital. A representative of the Bougainville government stationed in Bana, Sam Roroga, says people will have to help themselves as there is little the government can do to help due to funding issues, but Itanu says his requests are pretty basic. “We need nails, saws and hammers to try and rebuild the houses. So we are now putting the report together to send it to the government so that the government can look into it. Nails and hammers and saws, and some petrol, some petrol to cut the timber, using saws.”

Accused of breaching obligations

NAURU – Nauru has been accused by a United Nations official of breaching its international obligations by failing to set up an independent body to investigate torture and human rights abuses in the Australian-run detention centre on the island. The Nauru government has also refused access to several United Nations groups wanting to inspect the centre. Fairfax Media reports that Nauru is in breach of a February deadline to establish an independent local body to regularly inspect the detention centre, a commitment it was supposed to meet after ratifying a UN anti-torture convention last year. Earlier this month, investigators from the working group on arbitrary detention were blocked from entering Nauru after an earlier invitation had been sent, but Nauru said it had never asked the group to visit the island.

Unexploded WW2 bomb found in camp

NAURU – An unexploded bomb has been found in Australia’s asylum seeker detention centre on Nauru. The Guardian newspaper reports that internal emails obtained from the centre say an artillery shell was uncovered in heavy rain last week, next to a tent that serves as a primary school for asylum seeker children. The shell, left over from the Second World War, was found on April 15 and subsequently removed. The emails said the likelihood of the bomb detonating was very slim, but does raise concerns that the site was not properly assessed for unexploded ordnance before asylum seekers were transferred to the site.

Supervisor appointment questioned

FIJI – The United Front for a Democratic Fiji says the attorney general misled people by suggesting the new supervisor of elections was appointed on the back of recommendations from foreign experts. Last month, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum announced Mohammed Saneem as the elections supervisor. At the time Sayed-Khaiyum said 13 applications were received but none of them met the set criteria. Mick Beddoes of the UFDF says contrary to what Sayed-Khaiyum said, foreign experts never made a direct recommendation, and it’s hard to believe Saneem was better qualified than the other applicants. “The people need to know how the experts made a recommendation to appoint someone who has never managed an election before to become the supervisor of elections.” Beddoes says no information has been provided about the 13 candidates.