Press Release – West Papua Media Alerts

The much wanted Suprime commader of the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPN) of the OPM, General Kelly Kwalik, was ambushed and killed on 16 December 2009 by the Indonesian Police forces who serves the Freeport interest in the mining area. … Read more »

Opinion – The Scoop Editor

Today I sit on my beach front home in Motueka saddened by your destructive, narrow minded and selfish approach to my future. We as young people are going to see the brunt of catastrophic climate change you had the opportunity to end! Politicians … Read more »

Press Release – United Nations

The 16-year-old United Nations disaster response system reached its 1,000th deployment this year, with the dispatch of experts to the storm-battered Philippines. Read more »

Press Release – United Nations

The United Nations handed over further policing responsibilities to Timor-Leste today as part of the gradual transfer of the security functions it assumed in 2006 after dozens of people were killed and 155,000 others – 15 per cent of the population … Read more »

Press Release – Speight’s Coast to Coast

Almost 800 people will line up on Kumara Beach for this year’s Speight’s Coast to Coast. But while the 28th edition of the 243k cycle, mountain run and kayak race across the South Island has been dubbed “the year of the family”, it could be … Read more »

Pacific Scoop
By Barry Coates in Copenhagen

This is the way the summit ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper. 119 world leaders came, they saw and they certainly didn’t conquer. They were captured by their limited vision, their vested interests and the lack of trust between them that has it roots in long standing divisions, including a denial of historical responsibility on the part of the major developed countries. Read more »

Pictured is pro-Papuan independence leader Kelly Kwalik.

Pacific Scoop
By John M. Miller

The December 16 killing of pro-Papuan independence leader Kelly Kwalik by Indonesian police risks further alienation of Papuans and is likely to seriously undermine Papuan efforts to begin an internationally-mediated dialogue with the Indonesian government. Simultaneous police allegations that Kwalik was involved in lethal attacks in the Timika area in this year and in 2002 are not credible. Making Kwalik a scapegoat only serves to mask the failure of Indonesian authorities to credibly resolve these cases. Read more »

Pacific Scoop
By Barry Coates in Copenhagen

This saga is unfolding as I write. A few hours ago we thought the deal was done and put out an (almost) final press release. Then the apparent agreement between President Obama, Wen Jiabao, the EU, India, South Africa and a few other big countries started to unravel.

First the EU said they were unhappy about it (which may just have been spin doctoring to cover their embarrassment over a massively weak deal), then Sudan (chair of G77 – the group of developing countries) said they had not been consulted and would not accept the deal, and then AOSIS – the group of small island states – said they would be submitting a new draft agreement. As it has been for most of the past two weeks, the process is in chaos. Read more »

Press Release – New Zealand Government

There are only six more days until Christmas. Everyone is looking forward to the Christmas break. Read more »

Protesters from developing countries at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen call on industrialized nations to curb emissions. Photo by Haider Rizvi.

Pacific Scoop
An Exclusive Report from Haider Rizvi, in Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN: Calls for deeper cuts in carbon emissions by industrial countries are intensifying as world leaders try to forge consensus on how to fight climate change in the years to come.

Today, many delegates from developing countries, especially those from Africa and small island countries, said they were extremely disappointed at the industrial countries’ refusal to commit emission cuts at the level of 1.5 degree centigrade. Read more »