The Flip Side of RAMSI – Some Observations

My frame of reference for RAMSI always goes back to June 2003 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, Australia when I listened carefully to Minister Lawrey Chan described how bad things had become in Solomon Islands and

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Cop-out in Bonn

WITH Fiji’s hosting of COP23 in Germany last month, I invited a Pacific negotiator to give me her take on the climate change talks and her views are republished below. “THE COP in Bonn appeared to be two meetings

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Whispers

Melanesia blues IS the big boss of the secretariat of the Melanesian Spearhead Group in trouble over his decision to be seconded again to his former employer in Fiji after taking up the Port Vila-based position? Rumours

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Pacific Entity of the Year

RAMSI is our choice “MY brother wanted to escape down to the river but they chased him down and got him. They partly cut his head and dragged him back to where he was. They took him close to where we were and they cut

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The flip side of RAMSI

MY frame of reference for RAMSI always goes back to June 2003 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, Australia, when I listened carefully to Minister Lawrey Chan described how bad things had become in Solomon Islands and

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Social media way to campaign in Fiji

WITH less than a year left for Fiji’s 2018 general election, registered political parties are whole-heartedly embracing a new weapon to take their message to voters – the social media platforms of Facebook, Twitter

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Independence movement prepares for referendum

Remembrance Day, November 11. French soldiers, sailors and police stand in ranks near Noumea’s war memorial at Bir Hakiem, to remember the fallen. Across town, at Ko We Kara, members of the Union Calédonienne Party

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Manus under siege

Asylum seekers fight for survival at former refugee centre “THE situation in Manus is critical. We are thirsty and have been waiting for rain in past few days. We have some water we’re rationing but it’s not

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It’s PM Hou, but Sogavare stays

2003 Islands Business Magazine’s ‘Pacific Man of the Year’ Rick Hou has taken the helm as the new Prime Minister of Solomon Islands with barely a year to go before the next election is due in early 2019. He

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Flight from volcano island

Islanders return to acid rain WATER and sanitation testing is on the priority agenda for Ambae Island as it recovers from mass evacuation amid fears of the imminent eruption of Manaro volcano last month. Around 11000

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SPC reform on ice

HOPES by the Pacific Community (SPC) to restructure one of its divisions were dashed when member government representatives refused to endorse the restructure proposal at a recent meeting in Vanuatu. Officials who

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Vanuatu beef is premium

SHORTAGE of Vanuatu’s premium beef has prompted the island government to embark on an ambitious re-stocking programme that hopes to see the doubling of heads of cattle in eight years. With total cattle heads currently

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Vanuatu beef is premium

SHORTAGE of Vanuatu’s premium beef has prompted the island government to embark on an ambitious re-stocking programme that hopes to see the doubling of heads of cattle in eight years. With total cattle heads currently

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Keep out!

Politicians told to stay off sports as Samoa rugby sees ‘red’ POLITICIANS should not manage sports in the Pacific Islands but leave it to professionals to ensure their viability and future for the next generations.

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Sustainable scheme for our tuna

THE Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) controls the world’s largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery. PNA Members are Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea,

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Humble crusade for humanity

Ambassador Peter Thomson created history when he was elected President of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, a one-year term that begun on September 2016 to August 2017. He was Fiji’s Permanent

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Rise in sex crimes in Fiji

THE number of sexual violence reports in general and particularly against children in Fiji has skyrocketed, according to statistics released by the country’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) office. This year

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Fiji success at COP23

NATIONS agreed on November 18 to launch the next steps towards higher climate action ambition before 2020 at the close of the annual UN climate conference or COP23 held in the German city of Bonn. Backed by a wide range

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Islands Business November 2017 edition

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A story of woe

  THE story of the people of Vunidogoloa in Cakaudrove, Northern Fiji, cannot remain untold. Until now, many individuals, organisations and governments have put themselves forward as the saviours of this community,

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Who pays for climate change

DUST collects on the floor of the village shop. The door is locked, the windows shut tight and a collection of guttering, plastic pipes, nuts bolts, screws and nails are piled on the counter and the shelves. Outside the

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Whispers

Report cards SO, two regional NGOs recently failed the test of an independent assessor appointed by international donors. One NGO claims to be the umbrella of all Pacific civil society organisations and claims as much

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Taking NZ in 80 days

Labour stuns electorate IT took Jacinta Ardern just 80 days from taking over as leader of a political party to becoming New Zealand’s youngest prime minister. When she replaced Andrew Little as leader of the Labour

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