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By Kayla Rosenfeld Special to the Pacific Islands Report

HONOLULU, Hawai‘i (May 30, 2000 - Hawai‘i Public Radio)---Johnston Atoll, located 800 miles southwest of Hawai‘i, has been home to about 6 percent of the United State’s chemical weapons stockpile. The rest is located at eight sites throughout the mainland U.S.

Twenty-five years ago, the U.S. Congress ordered the Army to destroy its entire 31,000 tons of stockpile nationwide, including what’s on Johnston Island.

In the late 1980s, the Army built the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) to destroy the weapons. Since beginning operations in 1990, the facility has destroyed about 1,800 tons of chemical agents and more than 380,000 munitions.

Its mission, however, is about to end.

In 1997, 130 nations, including the U.S., signed a treaty calling for the worldwide destruction of chemical weapons by 2007. When the Army shuts down JACADS in two years, it will be the first chemical...

SAIPAN

By Benhur C. Saladores

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (May 31, 2000 – Saipan Tribune)---Because of his alleged role in partisan political activities and a smear campaign against the CNMI while in office, the Office of Insular Affairs liaison officer here is facing condemnation by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Jeffrey Schorr could be declared persona non grata and removed from the Commonwealth under a resolution that the lower house is expected to approve today or in the near future.

The Senate, on the other hand, is ready to adopt a separate resolution urging OIA Director Ferdinand Aranza to replace him with a new representative that the island government can trust, according to Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes.

The twin measures stemmed from the disclosure made by U.S. House Resources Committee Chair Don Young (R-Alaska) accusing Mr. Schorr and other OIA officials, including former director Allen P. Stayman, of...

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (May 19, 2000 – Marshall Islands Journal)---The Republic of the Marshall Islands government-owned apartments in Honolulu for medical referral patients "are not fit for human habitation," according to Kasuo Helgenberger.

The former RMI Environmental Protection Authority manager said he was in Honolulu last week and saw the apartment facility with his own eyes. "I first raised concern about sanitation and health problems (at the referral facility) in 1996," he said. "Nothing was done. Now, it’s worse."

The building, he said, is infested with rats and cockroaches. "It should be closed down," he said. Helgenberger, who contacted the Journal, said he is bringing up the problem not to criticize the government but to raise public awareness and stimulate action.

He indicated his understanding that the government is planning to spend money to renovate the facility. But, he said, it would be a waste of money to do so if it doesn’t first fumigate...

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (June 1, 2000 - SIBC/PINA Nius Online)---A fact-finding mission from the European Union/African, Caribbean and Pacific group has arrived in Honiara to assess the country's needs resulting from the ethnic conflict on Guadalcanal.

Led by Co-President of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group, Louis Serge Clair, and Co-President of the European Union, Alexander Corrie, the group is expected to visit both Guadalcanal and Malaita islands.

The group is expected to meet Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa‘alu, who is said to have made the request for their visit and assessment of the problem on Guadalcanal.

Foreign Secretary Lucian Kii has said the trip was important, as it would indicate to the European Parliament and its development agencies whether the Solomon Islands should receive assistance.

The group was to have gone on to Fiji but this leg of their Pacific trip now is uncertain due to the insurrection there.

Radio Fiji...