Category Archives: Pacific islands

Tonga volcano: first pictures after eruption show islands blanketed in ash, as two deaths confirmed

Posted on by

Pictures from a New Zealand defence force surveillance flight and UN satellite images show land and trees coated in ash

Some of the first images have emerged from Tonga’s volcano and tsunami-hit islands, after a New Zealand defence force surveillance flight returned from the cut-off country, as two deaths from the disaster have been confirmed in Tonga.

Aerial photography of Nomuka, a small island in the southern part of the Haʻapai group, shows land and trees coated with ash and other damage inflicted by the huge undersea volcanic eruption and tsunami that hit the Pacific nation on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Tsunami hits Tonga after underwater volcanic eruption

Posted on by

Streets and buildings flooded in Pacific nation’s main island following latest eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai

People have been forced to flee their homes, and streets and buildings have flooded, as tsunami waves crashed into Tonga’s main island of Tongatapu, following a huge underwater volcano explosion.

The eruption at 0410 GMT on Friday of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano, located about 65km (40 miles) north of Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, caused a 1.2-metre tsunami, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said.

Continue reading...

I had death threats and my tires slashed for my reporting. Many journalists in the Pacific face huge dangers | Joyce McClure

Posted on by

Freedom of the press might be included in some constitutions of Pacific countries, but it often only works in theory

I spent five years as the lone journalist on the remote Pacific island of Yap. During that time I was harassed, spat at, threatened with assassination and warned that I was being followed. The tyres on my car were slashed late one night.

There was also pressure on the political level. The chiefs of the traditional Council of Pilung (COP) asked the state legislature to throw me out of the country as a “persona non grata” claiming that my journalism “may be disruptive to the state environment and/or to the safety and security of the state”.

Continue reading...

‘It’s a mystery for us’: the puzzling death at sea of a Tongan fisheries observer

Posted on by

Arnold Latu was found dead in his berth – one of numerous deaths of monitors who ensure fishing boats follow the rules

On the morning of Monday 27 September, a crew member on board the Hsinlong 1 fishing vessel went to fetch his friend Arnold Latu for breakfast.

Latu, in his mid-30s, was the monitoring officer of the Chinese-owned, Fiji-flagged vessel, employed by the Tongan government to check that the amount of fish caught on its three-week voyage was legal and correctly recorded.

Continue reading...

Settled French territory or powder keg: what next for New Caledonia after failed bid for independence? | Hamish McDonald

Posted on by

While French politicians are hailing the result of the referendum as ‘final’, indigenous Kanaks say their future is anything but settled

In the wake of the third New Caledonian referendum on independence from France, French president Emmanuel Macron declared that “France is more beautiful because New Caledonia decided to stay.”

The vote in the 12 December referendum – supposedly the finale of a 30-year process of preparation and consultation – was an overwhelming 96.5% against independence.

Continue reading...

‘Null and void’: boycott clouds New Caledonia’s final poll on independence

Posted on by

Overwhelming vote to remain with France, but low turnout ‘weighs heavily’ on self-determination process, say observers

Low voter turnout at New Caledonia’s independence referendum “weighs heavily” on the French territory’s self-determination process, election observers from the Pacific Islands Forum have said.

In Sunday’s referendum, more than 96% of voters were opposed to independence from France, compared with 57% in 2018 and 53% in 2020.

Continue reading...

New Caledonia rejects split from France in vote marred by boycott

Posted on by

Turnout of just 40% after pro-independence campaigners urged indigenous people not to participate

Residents of the Pacific territory of New Caledonia have voted overwhelmingly to remain part of France in a referendum boycotted by pro-independence groups.

In the third referendum on the matter, the decision to stay within the French republic was carried by 96.49% to 3.51%, but a turnout of just over 40% suggested the indigenous Kanak people have not given up on dreams of independence.

Continue reading...

Anti-independence ads accused of ‘profound racism’ against indigenous New Caledonians in court action

Posted on by

Urgent appeal lodged to stop the broadcast of cartoons calling on New Caledonians to vote against independence from France in this weekend’s referendum

Cartoons urging New Caledonians to vote no to independence from France in this weekend’s referendum have been accused of “profound racism and ridicule towards Pacific Islanders, especially the [indigenous] Kanak people”, in a legal submission lodged with France’s highest judicial body.

An urgent appeal has been lodged against the broadcast of the animations, which have been running on television in New Caledonia and online, with the Council of State in France.

Continue reading...

Covid, mourning and the spectre of violence: New Caledonia prepares for blighted independence vote

Posted on by

Pro-independence groups have called for Indigenous voters not to take part in Sunday’s long-awaited ballot, saying proper campaigning has been prevented

New Caledonia is set to hold a referendum on independence from France this weekend, the third and final poll meant to conclude a decolonisation process initiated 30 years ago.

For anyone who witnessed the first two referenda, the contrast with the vote set for 12 December is striking: instead of the countless Kanaky flags or the red, white and blue of the French tricolour that adorned houses, balconies, roadsides, pickups or even people in the run-up to the 2018 and 2020 votes, this year there is little to see. On the Place des Cocotiers, in the centre of Nouméa, the capital, the quiet is disturbed only by the incessant patrolling of police trucks, part of the increased security around the vote.

Continue reading...

Pacific nurses in the desert: Kiribati brain drain is outback Australia’s gain

Posted on by

A Pacific labour scheme has been transformative for Kiribati families but the brain drain has hit the country’s hospitals hard

Every night, sitting in her room in the remote Queensland town of Doomadgee, Bwerere Sandy Tebau calls her husband and daughter 4,300km away in Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati.

“There is no sea!” Sandy says, when asked about the difference between her new home in the red desert of Australia and her island home in the central Pacific. “There is just a lake and in the lake are crocodiles!”

Continue reading...

Solomon Islands PM survives no-confidence vote after weeks of protest

Posted on by

Manasseh Sogavare defends switching diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China

The prime minister of Solomon Islands has defended his government’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with China, accusing “agents of Taiwan” of attempting to destabilise the government.

Manasseh Sogavare made the comments during a heated day in parliament as the opposition leader, Mathew Wale, attempted to remove the prime minister through a no-confidence motion that was defeated by a significant majority.

Wale blamed Sogavare for the deadly anti-government protests and riots that have shaken the country in recent weeks. Protesters marched on the parliamentary precinct in the east of Honiara on 24 November, where they allegedly set fire to a leaf hut next to Parliament House where MPs and staffers go to smoke and eat lunch. Riots followed lasting hours with buildings being torched in Chinatown, as well as at a police station and a school.

Rioting continued for days. The bodies of three people were found in a burnt-out building in a store in the Chinatown district of Honiara.

Many of the protesters come from Malaita province, the most populous province in the country, where the provincial government has had tense relations with the central government for years. Tensions increased in 2019 when Sogavare announced that Solomon Islands would switch its diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China, a decision that the Malaita premier, Daniel Suidani, has strongly criticised.

Continue reading...

Emmanuel Macron’s dangerous shift on the New Caledonia referendum risks a return to violence | Rowena Dickins Morrison, Adrian Muckle and Benoît Trépied

Posted on by

With the growing possibility of a pro-independence victory, France is derailing decolonisation in a bid to shore up its position in the Indo-Pacific

The French government’s decision to hold New Caledonia’s self-determination referendum on 12 December, despite the resolve of pro-independence parties not to participate, is a reckless political gambit with potentially dire consequences.

The referendum will be the third and final consultation held under the 1998 Noumea accord – successor to the Matignon accords which ended instability and violence between the Kanak independence movement and local “loyalists” and the French state in 1988. By organising this month’s referendum without the participation of the Indigenous Kanak people, who overwhelmingly support independence, France is undermining the innovative and peaceful decolonisation process of the last 30 years, founded on French state neutrality and seeking consensus between opposing local political parties.

Continue reading...

Fiji sends 50 peacekeepers to Solomon Islands

Posted on by

Troops will join Australian-led force that also includes Papua New Guinea

Fiji will contribute 50 troops to an Australian-led peacekeeping force in Solomon Islands after anti-government rioting that razed parts of the capital of Honiara, the Fijian prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, has said.

The Fijian contingent will lift the number of peacekeepers to about 200 troops and police officers, mostly Australian with a contribution of at least 34 personnel from Papua New Guinea.

Continue reading...

Tonga’s drug crisis: Why a tiny Pacific island is struggling with a meth epidemic

Posted on by

Spike in drug use has caused problems across Tongan society, with arrests doubling in two years and children severely affected

After more than four decades spent living in New Zealand, Ned Cook knew it was time to return to his home country of Tonga.

His country was in the grip of a methamphetamine epidemic that was ripping families apart and overrunning the country’s hospitals and jails. Cook, a trained drug and alcohol abuse counsellor, with a history of drug abuse himself, had been preparing for years to return to Tonga to combat it.

Continue reading...

Solomon Islands unrest: three bodies found in burnt-out building

Posted on by

The badly burnt victims were discovered in a building in Chinatown in Honiara after days of rioting

The bodies of three people have been discovered in a burnt-out building in the Solomon Islands capital of Honiara, the first reported deaths after days of rioting.

The charred bodies were discovered in a store in the Chinatown district of Honiara, police said on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Solomon Islands leader blames violent anti-government protests on foreign interference

Posted on by

Comments come as Australian police and defence force personnel arrive in Honiara to help restore order

Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has blamed foreign interference over his government’s decision to switch alliances from Taiwan to Beijing for anti-government protests, arson and looting that have ravaged the capital Honiara in recent days.

However, critics have also blamed the unrest on complaints of a lack of government services and accountability, corruption and foreign workers taking local jobs. In 2019, Sogavare also angered many, particularly leaders of Solomon Islands’ most populous province, Malaita, when he cut the country’s diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Continue reading...

One-third of people in Pacific paid a bribe in the last year, says corruption report

Posted on by

Survey of more than 6,000 people by Transparency International is the most comprehensive look at corruption in the region to date

One in three people across the Pacific Islands region have paid a bribe when using a public service in the last year, while a quarter of people have been offered a bribe for their vote in the last five years, according to a report by Transparency International.

The findings for the watchdog group are based on a survey of more than 6,000 people in 10 countries and territories, and is the most comprehensive look at corruption ever carried out in the region.

Continue reading...

‘We are not in the mood for campaigning’: Covid threatens to derail independence vote in New Caledonia

Posted on by

Kanak leaders have urged a postponement of the vote, saying that the priority for indigenous people once lockdown lifts will be mourning customs, not campaigning

The credibility of New Caledonia’s third and final independence referendum has been questioned after indigenous leaders warned that participation could be adversely affected by the Covid pandemic.

The French government has announced that the referendum will proceed as planned in December after the coronavirus crisis eased.

Continue reading...

Kiribati to open one of world’s largest marine protected areas to commercial fishing

Posted on by

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area is about the size of California and has been fully closed to commercial fishing since 2015

The Kiribati government has announced it will open up one of the world’s largest marine protected areas to commercial fishing, citing economic benefits to its people.

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) spans 408,250 sq km (157,626 sq miles) – an area about the size of California – and was created in 2006 with the entire area declared a “no-take” zone in 2015, meaning that commercial fishing is forbidden.

Continue reading...