Deputy PM Belden Namah ... angered by the Indonesian incident. Photo: PNG govt

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Henry Yamo in Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea has recalled its ambassador to Indonesia in the latest fallout from the row over an air space  incident that angered the Deputy Prime Minister.

Belden Namah, Deputy Prime Minister in the parliamentary appointed government, had earlier called on Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to resign.

In a talkback radio programme,  Namah angrily called on O’Neill to resign over the incident in Indonesian air space on November 29 when the PNG government-owned Falcon jet was reportedly intercepted by two Indonesian military fighter jets. Read more »

Fiji's military leader and Prime Minister, Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama. Photo: Selwyn Manning

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – By Graham Davis

The folly of Australian policy towards Fiji is at the centre of a damning new landmark report that suggests the United States has lost confidence in Canberra’s ability to influence events in the Pacific and counter rising Chinese influence in the region.

It calls for the immediate and unconditional lifting of regional sanctions against Fiji and for Australia to “repair its relationship at the highest level” by re-engaging with the Bainimarama regime through the Pacific Islands Forum.

“It is well past the time to treat this festering regional wound,” it declares. Read more »

Fr Neles Tebay ... outlining a plan to end the bloodshed. Photo: Relindonesia

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Fr Neles Tebay in Jayapura

 Violence is escalating in the Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua. The whole month of October has been characterised by a series of violent events.

Blood began to be shed in Timika, the nearest town to the US gold and copper mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia on October 10, when a company worker, Petrus Ayemiseba, was shot dead as police fired warning shots to prevent protesting workers from entering a terminal at the company’s site.

On October 19, police and troops forcefully dispersed participants of the third Papuan People’s Congress in Jayapura after the latter declared the formation of an independent state and hoisted the outlawed Morning Star flag. Read more »

A new era for the Burmese press as the regime tries to win friends. Photo: Mizzima

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

Burma’s (Myanmar) one-time military generals, who have miraculously transformed themselves into benign politicians, really do seem to be taking remarkable steps to restructure both the domestic and foreign policy of that fragile nation.

U Thein Sein’s new administration recently released approximately 208 out of the country’s 2000 political prisoners; unblocked the information super highway and has begun to ease media censorship in a land famous for blacklisting foreign reporters and imprisoning domestic ones.

He even invited charismatic democracy and traditional arch enemy of the regime Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to the presidential palace for a friendly chat and a cup of chai. Read more »

South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and South Prime Minister John Key during the Pacific Islands Forum in Auckland. Photo: Myles Idoko Ojabo.

THE Pacific Islands Forum was overshadowed by the launch of the Rugby World Cup last month. But as the six-week cup hype draws to a close, South African interest in the Pacific comes out of the shadows.

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – By Myles Idoko Ojabo

It was unusual for an African political leader to attend the Pacific Islands Forum that was hosted in Auckland last month.

But South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe arrived in New Zealand on the last day of the forum.

While the United States and China were strongly represented because of their growing  partnerships to the Pacific region, the African continent has had few connections with Pacific nations other than Australia and New Zealand. Read more »

Samoa's Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielelagaoi ... flagrant breach of international law. Photo: PS

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Graham Davis

The principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries is a cornerstone of international law yet that principle is being flagrantly breached by Samoa in its dealings with Fiji.

In a remarkable development, the Samoan government has publicly endorsed a campaign spearheaded by the renegade Fijian military officer, Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara, to overthrow the government of Fijian leader Frank Bainimarama.

In doing so, it has set the scene for an even bigger rift between the two countries with potentially serious consequences for the entire region. Read more »

Fugitive Ratu Tevita Mara aka Roko Ului - warmly embraced by the anti-regime forces. Photo: Drum Pasifika

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Graham Davis

The Ukrainian Club in the New South Wales city of Queanbeyan – adjacent to Canberra – was the unlikely setting this weekend for the launch of what was being billed by its organisers as the most serious attempt thus far to dislodge the Bainimarama regime in Fiji.

The star speaker was Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara – the renegade Fijian military officer also known as Roko Ului, who has been warmly embraced by Frank Bainimarama’s opponents even as he stands accused of personally abusing democracy activists in the wake of the military coup he helped stage in 2006.

The anti-regime forces see Mara – who made a dramatic escape by sea to Tonga last month after being charged with sedition – as a credible figure around which to base a serious challenge to Bainimarama. Read more »

Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara ... father of the "Pacific Way". Graphic: PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Comment – By Eni F. H. Falaomavaega

It has been said among Samoan traditional fishermen that if you get stung by the spines of the Alamea (crown-of-thorns starfish), you should turn the starfish over and have its spongy-like feet touch the area where you have been stung.

Although this is no laughing matter as the toxic chemicals in the spines could prove fatal, Samoans believe the Alamea will heal its own doing, hence, the Samoan proverb, “E fofo ele Alamea le Alamea.”

When matters arise between two parties and conflicts develop, resolution is found by finding the soft side within. Read more »

TVNZ's Pacific affairs reporter Barbara Dreaver reports on the latest regime crackdown. Photo: TVNZ

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Epeli Takuwasa in Suva and PMC newsdesk

Fiji police are trying to find out who was behind fugitive former military colonel Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara’s sudden escape to Tonga.

Police spokesperson Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri said they had established that Mara had a few associates who helped him flee the country.

Sokomuri said most of these individuals were now being investigated by police while New Zealand media reported the questioning of two Kiwi associates. Read more »

Lieutenant-Colonel Tevita Mara aka Roko Ului ... new dissident leader for Fiji? Photo: Graham Davis

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Graham Davis

A bizarre rerun of the political intrigues of the 19th century South Seas aristocracy is being played out at a stately royal residence on the waterfront of the sleepy Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa.

Consular House was once the home of the British High Commissioner to Tonga and the lion and the unicorn still gaze majestically down from the wall in the foyer.

But now the timber tropical pile with its push out shutters houses the region’s latest and most celebrated political refugee – a Fijian chief who has sought sanctuary with his distant kinsmen, the monocle-wearing King George Tupou V. Read more »