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HONIARA, Solomon Islands (June 1, 2002 - SIBC/PINA Nius Online)---Solomon Islands government special representative Yukio Sato described negotiations with rebel commander Harold Keke on the Weathercoast of Guadalcanal as successful.

The government sent Mr. Sato, a businessman and independent MP, to negotiate with Mr. Keke and his men to surrender their weapons under an amnesty, which expired Friday.

Some former Malaita Eagle Force militia members were earlier reported as saying they cannot surrender their guns unless Mr. Keke's group hands in theirs.

Mr. Keke, a former Isatabu Freedom Movement commander, was not a party to the Townsville Peace Agreement, which ended more than two years of ethnic conflict.

This agreement was signed between the Isatabu Freedom Movement, a Guadalcanal militia, and the Malaita Eagle Force, made up of men from Malaita, in October 2000. But hundreds of high-powered weapons were not returned and this contributed to continuing...

NOTICE

AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

A panel of speakers will present on this topic
at the
Australian Historical Association Conference
Brisbane, Queensland, July 3rd-7th 2002

Further papers and delegates to the AHA conference are welcome.

Marcelina Cox and Charles Zuber: "Langafonua: Cultural Life of the Polynesian Community in Redland Shire"

Susan Crano (Qld Museum) (Video): "Loyalty Islanders in Queensland" (RKO documentary with short introduction)

Robert Dixon (USQ): "Prosthetic Gods; Frank Hurley in Papua"

Sam Kari (Goroka U): "Australia and the Setting of PNG's National Goals and Directive Principles"

August Kituai (UPNG): "An incident in the Highlands; Methodists, the ANC and Violence"

Warren McMillan (Multicultural Affairs Queensland): "Australian South Sea Islanders in Queensland"

Philippa Mein-Smith (Canterbury): "New Zealand and Australian Federation: A Renewed Debate"...

SUVA, Fiji Islands (May 31, 2002 – Radio Australia)---Fiji’s growing Chinese community has attempted to publicly answer constant criticism of its people.

As Radio Australia correspondent Ofa Kaukimoce reports, the Chinese Association of Fiji says the actions of a few are tarnishing the image of the entire Chinese community.

"The Chinese community in the country has long been regarded as hardworking and trouble free, whose members maintain very private lives.

"But in recent years the influx of new Chinese immigrants into Fiji has brought with it a fair share of adverse publicity.

"There are regular reports of a Chinese mafia ring operating out of Fiji. There are also reports of public street fights between local youths and Chinese men. There are also reports that Chinese women are working as sex workers.

"These public images of the Chinese community have angered the association, whose president and influential businessman Lionel Lee says is...

VIEWPOINT

FIJI’S RACIAL PARADOX: BRIDGING THE ETHNIC DIVIDE BY WIDENING THE GULF

By Sanjay Ramesh, Ph.D.

Is the widening economic gulf between Indo-Fijians and indigenous Fijians the root cause of the events of 2000? The Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua Party (SDL) led Coalition seems to have developed a theme around this question to justify first the ‘blueprint for supremacy’ and then the Social Justice Bill. But at a closer look, the gulf between the two communities remains because of failed indigenous Fijian leadership.

After independence in 1970, the Alliance Party, under the direction of Ratu Mara, developed and imposed a raft of programs in favor of indigenous Fijians. Seventeen years later, Sitiveni Rabuka deposed an elected government and imposed his version of the blueprint, which was incorporated into the political machinery of the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa i Taukei Party (SVT), sponsored by the Great Council of Chiefs in 1990.

Under SVT, a...