A western Fiji road caves into a river bed in this week's devastating floods. Photo: Rotary Fiji

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By the PMC news desk

Food shortage is a major issue in Fiji in  the wake of this week’s floods as authorities count the cost of the disaster.

The global service organisation Rotary International was coordinating a nation-wide relief campaign, said Auckland-based Alan  Eyes, district governor  of Rotary District 9920, which includes Fiji.

“Fiji Rotary clubs have already donated $6000 for food parcels which are being sourced and distributed to those in need in the west,” he said. Read more »

Surrendered ... Colonel Yaura Sasa and his mutineers "seized control" of the PNG military this morning but backed down by tonight. Photo: ABC clip

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By the PMC news desk

A renegade retired colonel who claimed to have seized control of Papua New Guinea’s military today in a bid to restore court-ordered Sir Michael Somare’s prime ministership has surrendered tonight in the country’s political crisis.

Military sources said Colonel Yaura Sasa’s mutineers had surrendered, according to the blog of prominent journalist Malum Nalu.

This was confirmed by former PNG Defence Force officer Reg Renagi. Read more »

People stranded at the town-end of Rakiraki in Fiji yesterday. Photo: Islands Development / Fiji Times

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Maciu Malo in Ba, Fiji

A young family in Tukaraki village in Fiji’s western town of Ba has been buried in a landslide  and the nation has declared a state of emergency as the floods death toll reached six.

Villagers and neighbouring villagers spent more than eight hours clearing up the area as they tried to recover the body of Anare Taligo, his wife, and their two children.

State officials say that at least 3500 people are now in temporary shelters in the wake of the flooding that has hit the western end of the main island of Viti Levu. Read more »

Part of the huge landslide near Tumbi in Papua New Guinea's Southern Highlands. Photo: The National

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Isaac Nicholas in Port Moresby

More than 60 villagers have reportedly died and many more unaccounted for after a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea buried homes, vehicles and properties at dawn yesterday.

The disaster struck near the Tumbi quarry of the giant ExxonMobil liquefied natural gas project near Hides, Southern Highlands province, between 3am and 5am. Searchers today recovered at least 40 bodies.

According to initial reports, the whole side of a nearby mountain collapsed, covering an area stretching about 2km and 500m wide. Read more »

West Papuan freedom fighters and singers dream of independence from Indonesia. Photo: Dominic Brown TG

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By a special correspondent in Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has reprimanded non-government organisations that often criticise how the Indonesian Military (TNI) handles security in West Papua, saying that they imply that the law should not be enforced in the country’s easternmost island.

“Papua is part of Indonesia. It doesn’t make sense that NGOs say something that implies that we can’t enforce the law in Papua,” he said at the TNI and National Police leaders meeting in Jakarta.

The President said the military presence in Papua was not without reason. Read more »

For years the Kachin Independence Army controlled Burma’s northern hills, which they call their ethnic homeland. Now the Burmese Army has pushed into the region. Photo: NYTimes

Pacific Scoop:
Video – By Edward Wong and Johan M. Kessler of the New York Times

Even as the Burmese government initiates political reforms in much of the country, it has intensified an ethnic civil war in the resource-rich hills of northern Myanmar, a conflict that at once threatens its warming trend with the United States and could alienate Chinese officials concerned about stability on the border.

This month hundreds of mortar rounds fired by the Burmese military landed within miles of this town near the mountainous Chinese border.

International human rights groups and soldiers and officials of the Kachin ethnic group say that Burmese soldiers have burned and looted homes, planted mines, forcibly recruited villagers as porters and guides, and raped, tortured and executed civilians. Read more »

Freed: Min Ko Naing (left), a leader of Burma's 88 Generation students, sitting together with a political prisoner. The 88 Generation Students group took its name from the 1988 uprising, when troops opened fire on mass student demonstrations in Rangoon, leading to the deaths of thousands of people. Photo: Burma Campaign

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Simon Scott and Naing Ko Ko

For a long time, it was easy for us to hold an opinion on Burma. It fitted neatly into the classic dichotomy of good and evil. The regime – made up of cruel, despotic military generals – was bad, and Aung San Suu Kyi and the huddled masses of Burmese people she led were good.

The country seemed like an iron-clad monolith to the durability of repression – a case study in how totalitarianism and suffering could continue despite the odds.

When Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in late 2010 there was much cause for celebration, yet we remained sceptical. Read more »

A scene from a notorious video of Indonesian military torturing a Papuan.Photo: Survival International

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By the PMC news desk

An English-language Indonesian newspaper is making a better job of reporting the alleged genocide and human rights violations in West Papua than two leading Australian and New Zealand dailies, says a new report.

Journalist Nigel Moffiet, reporting on his findings from a content analysis of leading dailies in all three countries, said that the Jakarta Post was “more consistent” than both the New Zealand Herald and the Sydney Morning Herald in reporting “human rights abuses” in the Indonesian-ruled region.

He also reported in a research article that if had not been for opinion pieces by Auckland-based Indonesia Human Rights Committee spokesperson Maire Leadbeater, the NZ Herald would have have had “next to no content at all” on the controversial issue. Read more »

Indonesian police in West Papua. Photo: Ravespot

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By a special correspondent in Jakarta

A survey jointly conducted by two Indonesian non-government organisations – the Partnership for Governance Reform (Kemitraan) and the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) – has found that torture is a common practice among members of the National Police in West Papua and has become the chief means for extracting information from suspects.

The survey, conducted from October to December last year, also confirmed the finding from last year’s survey, also by Kemitraan, that the National Police are the most violent legal enforcement institution.

“The survey shows that police officers are most prone to violence compared to other law enforcers in Papua. And this also applies to other regions in the country, as most of them continue to use torture to enforce the law,” said Laode M. Syarif, who chairs the security and justice governance division at the Kemitraan. Read more »

Fiji's Ambassador to the United States, Winston Thompson ... interview with Al Jazeera. Photo: The Diplomat

Pacific Scoop:
Interview – By Eddie Walsh of Al Jazeera

Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke famously condemned Fiji’s first military coup, saying: “Today’s events are particularly deplorable as the first military coup against an elected government in the South Pacific.”

In the wake of the 1987 coup d’etats, democracy has remained elusive for a post-colonial society deeply divided along racial lines. With further military coups in 2000 and 2006, Suva, Fiji’s capital, has become the coup capital of the South Pacific.

The question is whether Fiji can chart a new course and re-establish a stable and enduring democracy. The choice rests with Commodore Frank Bainimarama, the leader of the 2006 coup and current head of government. Without his acquiescence, democracy will not return to Fiji. But, even with it, there are no guarantees. This is the puzzle Fiji faces.

Eddie Walsh of Al Jazeera spoke with Fiji’s Ambassador to the United States, Winston Thompson, to hear his views on what progress has been made towards the restoration of democracy and the country’s outlook for 2012: Read more »