Neu: 2001-08-20 Contents of this issue: 1. Warder Charged 2. Forum Wrap 3. Successful Unloading 4. Overfly Niue ======================================================================== August 20th, 2001 1. Warder Charged: A 57 year-old Niue prison warder, Joe McCoy, has been formally charged with murder following the fatal shooting of an inmate last Tuesday. Michael Pioiva (41) who was serving nine years imprisonment for sexual and violent offending is reported to haved died after being shot twice within the prison compound. McCoy, a former seaman working out of New Zealand, who had been employed as a prison warder for several years was in addition charged with five firearm offences and attempting to kill the prisoner. >From his office in New Zealand Chief Justice Norman Smith remanded McCoy in custody Friday and ordered him to surrender his passport. The accused is under police guard at the prison which is administered by the Justice Department. McCoy entered no plea and will appear before a visiting New Zealand judge presiding over the High Court of Niue next month. McCoy will join a second man to appear before the Niue court on a murder charge next month. A 41 year-old Tongan planter Atelea Kosini Sakalia is accused of fatally shooting a woman relative in Alofi last November. Sakalia is also in custody at the island prison. The latest shotgun killing has the government investigating ways of restricting the use of firearms which are openly carried around in cars and vans during the flying fox and pigeon hunting seasons. Police officers are talking with Cabinet about the problem. 2. Forum Wrap: The Pacific Island Forum supports its smallest members' plan to meet US President George Bush over global warming and rising sea levels. Leaders of the 16-nation forum's six smallest countries - the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu - are "deeply concerned" about the effects of global warming. "The forum encouraged all parties to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, observing that some forum members have already ratified it," said a communique from the forumin Nauru. "Leaders noted the concerns expressed by most members over the United States' intention not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and agreed that the forum urge the United States to reconsider its position," it said. Leaders would not be drawn on which countries differed, although one is known to be Australia. Australia was unwilling to ratify the protocol, but appeared to have changed its mind since its requirements were eased at a meeting in Bonn, Germany, last month. Prime Minister Helen Clark said New Zealand shared the smaller states' concerns. "We don't see the statement in the communique as any kind of criticism, it's simply expressing concern," she said. "They are deeply concerned. They feel their future is on the line and they would have liked the communique to be stronger, but there was an attempt to get near unanimity and in the end Australia did go along." Nauru and forum president Rene Harris announced that Fiji would host the forum next year, if a democratically elected government were in place. Nauru became host after Helen Clark last year pushed to move it from post-coup Fiji. Fiji deputy prime minister Ratu Epeli Nailatikau said he had told leaders his country was interested in hosting the next forum "provided we go through the routine of what we're supposed to do and get that right". Helen Clark said leaders had agreed Fiji's yet-to-be elected government should re-issue the invitation which would likely be accepted, if the government and country were stable. Members responded well to New Zealand's call for a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific - a call rejected by the International Whaling Commission last month. Helen Clark suggested to the forum that members declare its economic zone to be whaling free. "There was no opposition whatsoever to the recommendation put forward to proceed with the sanctuary and ... that's a huge departure from last year," she said. Also discussed was the tax haven status of some Pacific nations, including the Cook Islands, Nauru, Samoa, Niue, Tonga and Vanuatu. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is calling on those countries to reform their tax systems or face isolation from the international financial community - a move which has not gone down well. "Leaders reaffirmed the sovereign right of nations to establish domestic tax regimes of their own design and choosing," the communique said. "Leaders endorsed ongoing efforts to reach a negotiated agreement with the OECD on a tax initiative which recognises the needs of both developing and developed countries." Meanwhile, Helen Clark was still able to raise a smile at the end of the trip home from Nauru aboard an air force Hercules. Before the trip she said it was "marginally" better than having to row, prompting the crew to present her with a paddle as a memento. "She laughed," a crew member said. (NZPA) 1. Successful Unloading : The Reef Shipping Company vessel Southern Express successfully unloaded at Niue Sunday. Church officers and Cabinet Ministers granted stevedores dispensation to unload the vessel on Sunday because food supplies were running low and building equipment for refurbishing the hospital were urgently needed. The Southern Express, enroute to Auckland from Aitutaki was forced to stand off the island for three days due to high winds and rough seas. Cargo ships cannot tie-up alongside the tiny wharf at Alofi and unload into barges from the roadstead. During the unloading, operations ceased for an hour and a half in the morning and afternoon during Alofi church services.Three containers of taro were loaded for the Auckland market. 2. Overfly Niue: Samoa's Polynesian Airlines will now be able to pick up passengers in Tonga for more international routes.Tonga's Prime Minister, Prince 'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata, and Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi signed a bilateral agreement while at the Pacific Islands Forum summit in Nauru. Tuilaepa said Niue Premier Sani Lakatani had not approached him at this year's Forum about Polynesian Airlines resuming a Niue service. He said the Niue stopover had high operational costs and Polynesian had lost money on that route. Tuilaepa explained the Tonga agreement would allow for the free flow of flights and speed up tourism growth. Tuilaepa explained the agreement removed restrictions for both countries and would work quite well with the Hawaii-Apia-Tonga-New Zealand route in a straight line. The agreement takes effect immediately. The deal will be profitable for Polynesian Airlines and at the same time gives Tonga another airline option. Air New Zealand currently flies to Tonga. It has a seat-sharing agreement with Royal Tongan Airlines, following the end of Royal Tongan's own international jet flights using a leased Boeing 737. The deal comes at an opportune time for Samoa's national carrier with Polynesian due to receive its second Boeing 737-800 plane next month. Tuilaepa said negotiations between the countries had been going on for three weeks.(PINA Nius OnLine) __END__
