Press Release – Alexander Communications

Anzac Day draws near once more, we stand with hearts bowed low. Remember all those brave young men, who died, so long ago. Recall the fields of Flanders, white crosses row by row. Poppies are sold on street corners, we pin them to our breast. Think … Read more »

Press Release – Peace Movement Aotearoa

An update on the 2012 White Poppies for Peace Annual Appeal which is currently underway. There are street collections in Wellington and Dunedin on Monday, 23 April – the timetable for collectors for both street collections is being finalised tomorrow, … Read more »

Indonesian police rough up Papuan activist Bucthar Tabuni outside Parliament in Jayapura. Photo: Voice of Baptist Papua

Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Maire Leadbeater

Trade Minister Tim Groser seems to believe that the price of a warm relationship with Indonesia is New Zealand endorsement of its “territorial integrity”.  In practice, that means shutting the door on any debate on  West Papua’s 1969 incorporation into Indonesia.

Before he set off for Indonesia with the Prime Minister,  Groser took a swipe at the past Labour government, suggesting – wrongly – that it had a different approach to the West Papua issue.   New Zealand governments of all political stripes have always put the bilateral relationship with Indonesia ahead of the issue of self-determination.

Defence ties with Indonesia were suspended in 1999 because of unrestrained military mayhem in East Timor, but resumed in 2007 with Labour in office. Read more »

Taur Matan Ruak ... looking after veterans and widows of East Timor's liberation war among his priorities. Photo: Tempo Semanal/PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Michael Bachelard in  Dili

A military man recommended by the United Nations for criminal prosecution six years ago seems almost certain to become the new president of East Timor.

Former commander of the armed forces Jose Maria de Vasconcelos, universally known as Taur Matan Ruak (or ”Two Sharp Eyes”), was well ahead in provisional counting and is expecting to be declared the winner in the second round of the country’s presidential election.

With more than 60 percent of the vote counted, Ruak was up by 61 percent to Francisco ”Lu Olo” Guterres’s 39 percent. Read more »

Press Release – New Zealand Defence Force

As the Officers and Ratings of HMNZS RESOLUTION parade through the streets of Gisborne this Saturday [subs: 21 April] for the final time, it will be with pride and a tinge of sadness as they return their Home Port Charter. Read more »

Women miners wade through heavy metal laden effluent at Porgera, Papua New Guinea, in search of gold. Photo: Brent Stirton/Reportage/Human Rights Watch

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Helen Hughes

The villagers of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, together with those of Fiji’s military dictatorship where living standards have been dropping precipitously, make up most of the population of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. They are now among the very poorest people in the world.

Women and their babies die in childbirth in the bush. Children are wracked by diarrhoea and chest catarrhs. HIV/AIDS in PNG compares with Mali and Burkina Faso. Illnesses no longer evident in most of the world plague adults.

Cholera outbreaks in Madang and Lae threaten Australian travellers. Drug-resistant tuberculosis has crossed to Australia’s Sabai and other Torres Strait islands. Read more »

Speech – NZ Embassy in Washington

Ambassador Mike Moore Address to Centre for Australia and New Zealand Studies, Georgetown University, Washington DC 12 April 2012 “Foreign Policy in an Interdependent World: A New Zealand Perspective” (As prepared for delivery) Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s … Read more »

Press Release – West Papua Media Alerts

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/04/11/papua-shooters-opm-not-us-tni.html Read more »

An Australian funded Detachment 88/ Brimob unit near the shooting site, Mulia, in 2010. Photo: West Papua Media

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Arientha Primanita, Farouk Arnaz and Ismira Lutfia

Soldiers may be deployed in West Papua to assist the police in the search for the gunmen responsible for Sunday’s attack on a commercial airplane, as the president demands swift justice.

The attack left a journalist dead and has raised fears that pro-independence rebels are becoming more brazen and could threaten a fragile peace in the province.

“This must be solved quickly,” presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said on Monday. “Those responsible should be brought to justice.
This is totally unacceptable.” Read more »

Press Release – The East Timor Action Network ETAN

March 30, 2012 – Ninety organizations today urged the U.S. government and Congress not to provide deadly attack helicopters to Indonesia. Indonesia has announced that it plans to buy eight AH-64 Apache attack helicopters from the United States. Read more »