The "president" of West Papua, Forkorus Yaboisembut, at Jayapura District Court yesterday. He and four other Papuan prio-independence activists have been charged with treason for raising an outlawed Papuan flag and declaring the region independent. Photo: Jakarta Globe / Antara

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By a special correspondent in Jayapura

An Indonesian court has indicted five Papuan activists for treason for raising an outlawed Papuan flag and declaring the region independent, reports Agence France-Presse.

The men, who led a peaceful pro-independence Papuan People’s Congress celebration attended by 5000 indigenous Papuans on October 19, face life in prison if found guilty.

“The defendants jointly tried to commit treason with the intention of allowing the country or part of the country to fall into the hands of the enemy,” Judge Jack L. Oktovianus at the Jayapura district court said. Read more »

Papua New Guinea stand-off: Prime Minister Peter O'Neill (left) - defiantly snubbing a court order; and "reinstated" Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare ... fighting for the rule of law. Photo: ABC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Malum Nalu in Port Moresby

Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, who maintains he is the legitimate prime minister of Papua New Guinea, says he will continue to uphold the Constitution, The National reports.

Sir Michael, whose claim to lead the government is backed by a Supreme Court ruling delivered last December, said in a statement at the weekend: “If this is to be my last and biggest battle, I will fight for the Constitution, the underlying law that holds the very fabric of our democracy and democratic institutions together.

“Yes, I could call it quits and allow elected leaders that continuously sidestep our laws to take us to the brink of our democracy. Read more »

PNG soldiers during the military crisis over the political power struggle this week. Photo: Post-Courier

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Post-Courier staff reporters in Port Moresby

The struggle for power between Papua New Guinea’s Parliament-elect Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and the Supreme Court reinstated Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare is far from over.

This follows a failed mutiny — the first ever in this country’s Defence Force — led by a retired army officer supported by about 40 gun-totting soldiers who stormed the military headquarters of the PNG Defence Force at Murray Barracks in Port Moresby in the early hours of Thursday, catching everyone by surprise.

The mutineers placed the commander, Brigadier-General Francis Agwi under house arrest and installed retired colonel, 65-year-old Yaura Sasa as commander. Read more »

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 »