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PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (April 2, 2001 - The National, Kabar-Irian/PINA Nius Online)---Police in West Sepik have arrested another OPM (Operasi Papua Merdeka, Free Papua Movement) rebel and charged him with forming an illegal army in Papua New Guinea.

Peter Simon Alom, 39, from Wamena, West Papua, was arrested by West Sepik police and later appeared before the Vanimo District Court.

The arrest was a follow-up to the arrest of OPM commander Mathias Wenda and 12 others earlier this year. They face the same charge.

West Papuans have been campaigning for independence since Indonesia occupied the former Dutch colony in 1963.

Human rights activists say thousands of people have died in years of fighting between Indonesian security forces and pro-independence West Papuans.

West Papua and Papua New Guinea share a land border and the Indonesians claim OPM fighters have been operating from camps across the border in Papua New Guinea.

West Sepik...

By Fili Sagapolutele

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (April 2, 2001 - PIDP/CPIS)---The number of Vietnamese workers at the now closed Daewoosa Samoa is slowly declining after another group of Vietnamese workers left over the weekend.

The new group of 28, accompanied by two FBI agents, left Friday evening for Honolulu under arrangements with the U.S. Department of Justice.

They join close to 100 other workers already in Honolulu, where they are stationed temporarily to testify against Daewoosa Samoa owner and president Kil-Soo Lee.

This is the last group of Vietnamese workers authorized by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to enter the U.S. under special permission.

Meantime, Another group of 21 workers left for Hanoi Friday night.

The tickets for the workers returning home were paid for by the Vietnamese government.

The total number of Vietnamese and Chinese workers still remaining at the now closed Daewoosa Samoa garment factory...

PACIFIC CONCERNS RESOURCE CENTRE (PCRC) Suva, Fiji Islands

MEDIA RELEASE April 2, 2001

The Pacific Concerns Resource Centre has strongly condemned Australia and New Zealand for undertaking military exercises with France in the Pacific region, saying it was hypocritical and a useless expenditure of resources.

The Australian, New Zealand and French navies conducted military exercises called ‘Tasmanex’ in Auckland, New Zealand from 5-15 March.

"Australia and New Zealand preach about democracy, good governance and human rights in Fiji and the Solomon Islands, yet they ignore France’s violation of the rights of the indigenous people of Tahiti and New Caledonia to democratically determine their own future. This is hypocritical," said PCRC spokesperson Stanley Simpson.

PCRC said France was a military occupier in the Pacific as it still colonizes Tahiti (French Polynesia), Wallis and Futuna, and the indigenous Kanak people of New Caledonia. The military...

By Giff Johnson North Pacific Managing Editor, Pacific Magazine

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (April 2, 2001 - Pacific Magazine/PINA Nius Online)---In a span of two months, organizations affiliated with the controversial 81-year-old Rev. Sun Myung Moon spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to sponsor conferences in the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Palau and Japan. All featured heavy Pacific islands participation and all-expenses paid trips for attendees.

The three conferences in the Pacific were jointly sponsored by the International and Interreligious Federation for World Peace (IIFWP), an organization founded by Moon, who is also the founder and leader of the Unification Church.

Moon’s emergence in the region has been swift. The IIFWP organized conferences in the three island countries during November and December, all of which were attended by a smorgasbord of high and mid-level government, community and church leaders, including several heads of...