Fire engulfed the Marshall Islands Nitijela (Parliament building) just after midnight on last night with firefighters risking their lives as they battled the blaze early today in a bid to save the complex.

“Sometime around midnight or shortly after this morning, the Parliament building in Majuro caught fire, started burning,” RNZ Pacific’s correspondent in the Marshall Islands Giff Johnson said.

“The fire department here is pretty nonexistent, except for an airport fire fighting team, which was called in, but they weren’t able to get there for over an hour.”

Johnson said the building was completely engulfed by the time the fire truck arrived on site.

He said the Parliament chamber and offices, the library and all the archives, “have been all destroyed”.

“Everything’s wiped out. All the records are gone,” he said.

“A lot of the structure, which is concrete, is still standing, but it’s now noontime (Tuesday, NZT), and it’s still smoking. Firefighters are still on site, trying to quell it.

‘Alternative plans’
“The building is no longer usable, and already, alternative plans are being talked about, about where they’re going to hold Parliament, because Parliament is actually in session right now.

“Fortunately, the fire started late overnight so no indication that anybody was harmed.”

Johnson said the Marshall Islands did not have much capacity in firefighting and fire inspection processes, making it difficult to determine the cause of the fire.

He said a lot of entities in the Marshall Islands did not have back-ups and it would take people weeks to figure out what they had lost and what they could access.

“From purely a records point of view, and just getting their system back up and running, it’s going to be a while because everything has been digitised at the Parliament, and it’s a really complicated situation.”

The Marshall Islands Cabinet was holding an emergency meeting and was expected to make a statement later today.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Marshall Islands Journal editor Giff Johnson says US President Donald Trump’s decision on aid “is an opening for anybody else who wants to fill the gap” in the Pacific.

Trump froze all USAID for 90 days on his first day in office and is now looking to significantly reduce the size of the multi-billion dollar agency.

The Pacific is the world’s most aid dependent region, and Terence Wood from the Australian National University Development Policy Centre told RNZ Pacific this move would hit hard.

“The US is the Pacific’s largest aid donor and what is happening there is completely unprecedented . . .  there’s also a cruel irony that Elon Musk is the world’s wealthiest man and right now he seems to be calling the shots with decisions that are literally going to be life or death for the world’s poorest people . . .  it’s hard to wrap one’s head around,” he said.

Marshall Islands Journal owner and editor Giff Johnson on the USAID crisis. Video: RNZ Pacific

Wood was concerned about how the dismantling of USAID would impact the Pacific.

“It’s not a good time to be in the world’s most aid dependent region . . .  indeed Sāmoa PM Fiame Naomi Mata’afa has already expressed concern about what might happen to funding for organisations like the World Health Organisation . . .  so everyone is watching this with considerable alarm”.

‘It’s hard to believe that Trump has changed his sense’
Editor Johnson said said in an interview with RNZ Pacific last week that Trump’s shutdown of USAID was at odds with the increased engagement in the Pacific.

He said the move did not line up with the President’s rhetoric on China, and the fact the new US compact agreements were instigated by his administration the last time he was in power.

“So it’s hard to believe that Trump has changed his sense and I mean, he’s putting tariffs in on China, right? . . .  So that’s still very much in play,” Johnson said.

“It’s just like amazing to me that that they’re willing to undermine relationships in the Pacific that they claim to be a very important region for them.

“And you know, this is, I mean, certainly it’s an opening for anybody else who wants to fill the gap, I suppose, until Washington decides what it is doing.”

USAID shutdown bug thing for Pacific
Meanwhile, in the Cook Islands, the vice-chairperson of the Pacific energy regulators Alliance said Trump’s shutdown of USAID was a big deal for the region.

Dean Yarrall said his organisation was planning a multi-day training course on best practices in electricity regulation, funded by the US, which had now been called off.

He said the cancelling of the training course caught his organisation off guard.

“We’re seeing a lot of competition between parties, the Chinese are looking to increase the influence Australia as well and the US through USAID are big supporters of the Pacific so seeing USA sort of drop away, I think that will be a big thing,” Yarrall said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Majuro Mayor Ladie Jack is raising the alarm about criminal behaviour involving Marshallese deported from the United States, saying the “impact of these deportees on our local community has been nothing short of devastating”.

Marshallese deported from the United States have been convicted over the past three years of a murder, a knife assault, and rape, while two additional assaults that occurred last month are under investigation.

In a letter to President Hilda Heine dated April 1 and obtained last Friday, the mayor is seeking significantly stepped-up action by the Marshall Islands national government on the issue of deportations.

“I urge you to explore viable solutions that prioritise the protection of our community while also addressing the underlying issues that contribute to the cycle of criminal behavior,” Mayor Jack said in his letter.

He called on the national government to “take proactive steps to address this pressing issue promptly and decisively”.

Mayor Jack included with his letter a local government police report on four individuals that the mayor said were deported from the US, all of whom committed violent assaults — three of which were committed in the rural Laura village area on Majuro, including two last month.

In the police report, two men aged 28 and 40, both listed as “deportees” are alleged to have assaulted different people in the rural Laura village area of Majuro in mid-March.

Five years for rape
Another deportee is currently serving five years for a rape in the Laura area in 2021.

A fourth deportee was noted as having been found guilty of aggravated assault for a knife attack on another Marshallese deported from the US in the downtown area of Majuro.

Another deportee was convicted last year and sentenced to 14 years in jail for the shooting murder of another deportee.

The national government’s cabinet recently established a Task Force on Deportations that is chaired by MP Marie Davis Milne.

She told the weekly Marshall Islands Journal last week that she anticipates the first meeting of the new task force this week.

The Marshall Islands is seeing an average close to 30 deportations each year of Marshallese from the US.

Mayor Jack called the “influx of deportees” from the US an issue of “utmost concern.” The mayor said “a significant number of them [are] engaging in serious criminal activities.”

With the Marshall Islands border closed for two-and-a-half-years due to covid in the 2020-2022, no deportations were accomplished by US law enforcement.

‘Moral turpitude’
But once the border opened in August 2022, US Homeland Security went back to its system of deporting Marshallese who are convicted of so-called crimes of “moral turpitude,” which can run the gamut of missing a court hearing for a traffic ticket and being the subject of an arrest warrant to murder and rape.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported that in fiscal year 2023 — October 2022 to September 2023 — 28 Marshallese were deported. This number mirrors the average 27 per year deported from the US in the seven years pre-covid, 2013-2019.

Including the post-covid deportations, from 2013 to 2023, 236 Marshallese were deported from the US to Majuro. That 11-year period includes the two no-deportation years during covid.

In 2016 and 2018, deportations hit a record of 35 per year. In contrast, neighboring Federated States of Micronesia, which also has a Compact of Free Association with the US allowing visa-free entry, has seen deportations over 90 per year both pre-covid, and in FY2023, when 91 Micronesian citizens were removed from the US.

The Marshall Islands has never had any system in place for receiving people deported from the US — for mental health counseling, job training and placement, and other types of services that are routinely available in developed nations.

Task force first step
The appointment of a task force on deportations is the first government initiative to formally consider the deportation situation, which in light of steady out-migration to America can only be expected to escalate as a greater percentage of the Marshallese population takes up residence in the US.

“The behavior exhibited by these deportees has resulted in a wave of havoc across our community leading to a palpable sense of fear and unease among our citizens,” Mayor Jack said.

“Incidents of violent crimes, sexual assault and other illicit activities have increased exponentially, creating a pressing need for immediate intervention to address this critical issue.”

He called on the national government for a “comprehensive review of policies and procedures governing the admission and monitoring of deportees.”

Without action, the safety of local residents is jeopardised and the social fabric of the community is undermined, he added.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A five-day Media, Elections and Democracy workshop wrapped up last week in the Marshall Islands capital Majuro with the first-ever Summit on Democracy: Public Engagement, Communications and the Media.

More than 40 students, journalists and public information officers from government and NGOs participated in the programme organised by the Pacific Media Institute in the Marshall Islands.

The workshop featured an experienced team of Pacific Island journalist trainers and resource people led by Honolulu-based writer and photographer Floyd K. Takeuchi.

Nearly 20 journalists and college students from the Marshall Islands participated in a morning track of the workshop, while close to 30 PIOs from the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau took part in an afternoon workshop track.

The workshop focused on learning to “write tight”, with techniques such as haiku (a Japanese poetic writing style) and the four-paragraph story employed.

Numerous special presentations were offered during the lunch hours, including:

• How media organisations support independent journalism and what they’ve accomplished in Tonga and the Solomon Islands, led by Kalafi Moala, president of the Media Association of Tonga, and Georgina Kekea, president of the Media Association of the Solomon Islands.

• Domestic violence and prevention initiatives, led by Kathryn Relang, Country Focal Officer, Marshall Islands, Human Rights and Social Development Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

• Teieniwa Vision for Journalists: Anti-Corruption Reporting Toolkit for Journalists, led by Rimon Rimon, investigative journalist, Kiribati.

The workshop culminated in an all-day Summit on Democracy at the government’s International Conference Center.

It featured speeches by Marshall Islands President David Kabua and Nitijelā (Parliament) Speaker Kenneth Kedi, both of whom said they supported the summit concept from the time that Pacific Media Institute sought their endorsement early this year.

The Office of the Speaker co-sponsored the summit with Pacific Media Institute.

Guest speaker was Kalafi Moala who spoke about “Independent news media and traditional leadership: Can they live together?”

Each day of the workshop, including the summit, workshop participants, individually and in small groups, had writing assignments they delivered to the team of Pacific media trainers for review and editing.

Donor partners supporting the Media and Democracy workshops and Summit on Democracy include: AusAID, Republic of China/Taiwan Embassy in Majuro, USAID PROJECT Governance that is managed by the East-West Center and SPC, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Pacific Anti-Corruption Journalists Network, New Zealand North Pacific Development Fund, and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

Giff Johnson is editor of the Marshall Islands Journal and co-founder of the Pacific Media Institute in Majuro.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the covid outbreak in the Marshall Islands a Public Health Emergency.

A total of 571 new omicron cases of the virus were recorded in the latest 24-hour reporting period.

Three people have died and more than 10 percent of the population in the capital Majuro have tested positive, according to the Marshall Islands Ministry of Health and Human Services.

The WHO has declared the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

All schools will be closed for the next two months, just one of the measures under the government’s disaster management plan.

The number of positive cases has skyrocketed from a handful on August 8 to more than 1000 by the weekend.

RNZ Pacific’s Marshall Islands correspondent Giff Johnson said the outbreak had led to staff shortages at many businesses.

“Everybody’s operation is affected. I went next door to buy some drinks and the owner is doing the cash register … all cashiers are out of action with covid. The Post Office had to close down because so many people came down with covid.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Marshall Islands is a live demonstration that the omicron BA.5 variant is the most contagious covid variant yet to appear.

In the first five days of the outbreak in the Marshall Islands, more than 10 percent of the population in Majuro, the capital, has tested positive, reports the Ministry of Health and Human Services.

From initial confirmation of a handful of positive cases in the community on August 8, the number of positive cases skyrocketed to the one-day total of 1064 testing positive on Saturday, August 13, at the three community-based “alternative care sites” established to test and treat local residents.

This brings Majuro’s total in the wake of the outbreak to more than 2000 cases in a population estimated at 20,000. There were nine early hospitalisations, with most reported to be recovered by Sunday.

President David Kabua on Friday signed a proclamation of a “State of Health Disaster,” which outlines duties of all ministries and government agencies to respond.

It also gives the government the power to access emergency funding for the response to the initial outbreak.

Health authorities reported two deaths in the first week — both men. The first was a 23-year-old man, the second a 69-year-old.

Both pronounced dead
They were both pronounced dead on arrival at Majuro Hospital’s emergency room, Health officials said. Their vaccine status was not announced.

Majuro experienced a chaotic first couple of days as alternative care sites (ACS) were rolled out at two local schools and at an outdoor sports court, with thousands of islanders crowding in to get tested.

By Friday the influx of hundreds of volunteers to support the Ministry of Health and Human Service in managing the flow of people led to improvements in the service.

“What we are seeing at these sites is what we expected, the ACS sites are getting better and more organised as we go along,” said Health Secretary Jack Niedenthal Sunday.

“Much of the chaos is beginning to die down, though it is still there for sure, but this will continue to get better.”

Spread was not contained to Majuro Atoll, the capital. Within a day of the initial confirmation of positive cases in the Majuro community last Monday, the first case was identified on Ebeye, the densely populated community next door to the US Army’s Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll.

In addition, several isolated outer atolls at week’s end were reporting multiple residents with covid-like symptoms.

All remote island flights suspended
All flights on Air Marshall Islands and all government ships to remote islands were suspended August 9 in an effort to contain the spread. But travellers from the previous week to remote islands unwittingly caused the spread.

August 12, a special Air Marshall Islands flight took a health team to Wotje Atoll, confirming multiple positive cases, training the local health aide to conduct further testing, and leaving a supply of PaxLovid and other therapeutic medicines for islanders, according to health officials.

RMI COVID-19 Update eo in an 08-12-2022. pic.twitter.com/lsjjXfWVin

— V7AB Radio Marshall Islands (@v7abradio) August 11, 2022

Health teams were attempting to visit other remote islands for similar follow up Sunday, but all AMI pilots reportedly tested positive, putting flights in limbo.

Although the government did not require a lockdown, most churches cancelled in-person services Sunday and the one main road in the capital atoll was unusually quiet as people appeared to be staying home.

Restaurants also saw the number of customers decline dramatically, although most continued to see ongoing demand for takeout meals.

“We at the Ministry of Health and Human Services are very proud of the response that has come in from all corners of our country to help us deal with the health crisis,” said Niedenthal.

The ministry struggled in the initial phase of the outbreak with more than 200 of its staff, including many doctors and nurses, testing positive for covid — many exposed before they knew it was circulating in the community.

Covid-free success
Until last week the Marshall Islands had successfully employed some of the world’s strictest quarantine rules for people entering the North Pacific nation. This had kept it covid-free for the first two-and-a-half-years of the covid pandemic.

A reduction of quarantine time in recent weeks, coupled with unprecedented numbers of people coming in through the managed quarantine process is suspected to be the cause of the outbreak.

The government had earlier announced it was going to eliminate the managed quarantine requirement and open the borders on the October 1.

“As expected, the outbreak continues to gain strength,” Niedenthal said on Sunday.

“We had over 1000 cases in Majuro yesterday, almost double from the previous day. About 75 percent of the people we test are positive, which is an incredibly high positivity rate.”

Outbreak escalating
Last week, as the outbreak was escalating, Majuro traditional leaders sent a letter to President Kabua calling for the borders to be closed and opposing the announcement that medical teams arriving this week would not be required to quarantine.

The medical surge support teams are from the US Centers for Disease Control and other agencies. Niedenthal emphasised the importance for delivering services to the public by these medical professionals.

He described these as “boots on the ground medical support professionals” and said they would be tested on arrival and then sent right into the field to support ongoing services by local Health authorities.

“As a country we have moved from prevention to mitigation because we are now fighting this disease,” he said.

“The days of quarantine upon arrival are now over. I know some people are nervous about this, but we at the Ministry of Health are not and we are the ones on the frontline,” Niedenthal said.

“Please respect these public health decisions. We knew this would have to be a fast shift in strategy that would trouble some people because we had been working so hard (and) successfully to prevent the disease from coming into the Marshall Islands.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Micronitor News and Printing Company founder Joe Murphy moved the goal posts of freedom of press and freedom of expression in the Marshall Islands, a country that had virtually no tradition of either, by establishing an independent newspaper that today is the longest running weekly in the Micronesia region.

Murphy’s sharp intellect, fierce independence, vision for creating a community newspaper, bilingual language ability, and resilience in the face of adversity saw him navigate hurdles — including high tide waves that in 1979 washed printing presses out of the Micronitor building and into the street — to successfully establish a printing company and newspaper in the challenging business environment of 1970s Majuro.

Murphy, who died at age 79 in the United States last week, was the original sceptic, who revelled in the politically incorrect.

At 25, he arrived in the Marshall Islands capital Majuro in the mid-1960s and was dispatched by the Peace Corps to Ujelang, the atoll of the nuclear exiles from Enewetak bomb tests that was a textbook definition of the term “in the back of beyond.” A ship once a year, and no radio, TV, telephones or mail.

Still, Joe thrived as an elementary teacher, survived food shortages and hordes of rats, endearing him to a generation of Ujelang people as an honorary member of the exiled community.

After Ujelang, he wrapped up his two-year Peace Corps stint by taking over teaching an unruly urban centre public school class after the previous teacher walked out. He rewrote what he deemed boring curriculum and taught in military style, replete with chants in English.

These experiences in pre-1970s Marshall Islands fuelled his desire to return. After his Peace Corps tour, some time to travel the world, and a brief return to the US, Murphy headed back to Majuro.

No money, but a vision
He had no money to speak of, but he had a vision and he set out to make it happen.

“He was determined to start a newspaper written in both the English and Marshallese languages,” recalls fellow Peace Corps Volunteer Mike Malone, the co-founder with Murphy of what was initially known as Micronitor.

In late 1969, they began constructing a small newspaper building, mixing concrete and laying the foundation block-by-block with the help of a few friends.

Before the building was completed, however, they launched the Micronitor in 1970, printing from Malone’s house.

The Micronitor would be renamed later to the Micronesian Independent for a bit before finding its identity as the Marshall Islands Journal.

Writing in the Journal in 1999, Murphy commented: “The 30th anniversary of this publication is an event most of us who remember the humble beginnings of the Journal are surprised to see.

“February 13, 1970 was a Friday, an unlucky day to begin an enterprise by most reckonings, and the two guys who were spearheading the operation were Irish-extract alcohol aficionados with very little or no newspaper experience.

A worthy undertaking
“They also, between the two of them, had practically no money, and of course should never, had they any commonsense, even attempted such a worthy undertaking.

“But circumstances and time were on their side, and with all potential serious investors steering clear of such a dubious exercise they had the opportunity to make a great number of mistakes without an eager competitor ready and willing to capitalise on them.”

With Murphy at the helm, it wasn’t long before the Journal earned a reputation far beyond the shores of the tiny Pacific outpost of Majuro. Murphy encouraged local writers, and spiced the newspaper with pithy comment and attacks on US Trust Territory authorities and the Congress of Micronesia.

In the late 1980s and 1990s Murphy built two bars and restaurants, local-style places that appealed to Majuro residents as well as visitors. He also built the Backpacker Hotel, a modest cost accommodation that turned into a popular outpost for fisheries observers awaiting their next assignment at sea, low-budget journalists, environmentalists and assorted consultants.

“The first thing that people think about when it comes to my father is that he is a very successful businessman here in the Marshall Islands,” said his eldest daughter Rose Murphy, who manages the company today.

“But we need to remember him as someone who wanted to give the Republic of the Marshall Islands a voice.”

“To say Joe was a unique person is a large understatement,” said Health Secretary and former Peace Corps Volunteer Jack Niedenthal.

An icon with impact
“He was an icon and had a profound impact on our country because he fostered free speech and demanded that those in our government always be held publicly accountable for their actions.”

A plaque in his office defined his independent personality and his appreciation of the power of the press. It quoted the famous American journalist AJ Liebling: “Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one.” This was followed by a three-word comment: “I own one.” – Joe Murphy.

“He fought for freedom of speech and fought against discrimination,” said Rose Murphy. “Regardless of race, religion, and even status, he befriended people from all parts of the world and from all walks of life.”

In the mid-1990s, Joe Murphy created what became the justly famous motto of the Journal, the “world’s worst newspaper.” It was a reaction to the more politically correct mottos of other newspapers.

Those three words led to wide international media exposure. In 1994, the Boston Globe conducted a survey of the world’s worst newspapers, reviewing a batch of Journals Murphy mailed.

When the Globe reporter concluded that despite its claim, the Journal not only didn’t rank as the world’s worst newspaper it was “a first-class newspaper,” Murphy’s reaction was to say, “We must have sent you the wrong issues.”

Murphy knew the key to successful newspaper publishing was not how nicely or otherwise the newspaper was packaged, or if a photograph was in colour. The most important ingredient in any successful local newspaper is original content, intelligently and interestingly written.

‘Livened up’ the Journal
He did more than his fair share to liven up the Journal, from the time of its launch until poor health after 2019 prevented his engagement in the newspaper.

“My father experienced extreme hardships on Ujelang along with his adopted Marshallese family, the exiled people of Enewetak Atoll, who were moved to Ujelang to make way for US nuclear tests in the late 1940s,” said daughter Rose.

“He shared these hardships with his children to give them the perspective of being grateful for any little thing we had. If we had a broken shoe or little food, he shared with us this story.

“Our father, to us, is a symbol of resilience and gratitude. Be resilient in tough situations.”

From growing up among eight children of Irish immigrant parents in the United States to the austerity of Ujelang Atoll to the early days of establishing what would become the longest publishing weekly newspaper in the Micronesia region, Murphy was indeed a symbol of resilience and independence, able to navigate tough situations with alacrity.

“Democracy was able to establish a toehold, and then a firm grip, in the Western Pacific in part because of a handful of journalism pioneers who believed in the power of truth, particularly Joe Murphy on Majuro,” said veteran Pacific island journalist Floyd K Takeuchi.

“He had the courage to challenge the powers that be, including those of the chiefly kind, to be better, and to do better.

“People forget that for many years, the long-term future of the Marshall Islands Journal wasn’t a sure thing. With every issue of the weekly newspaper, Joe’s legacy is made firmer in the islands he so loved.”

Murphy is survived by his wife Thelma, by children Rose, Catherine “Katty,” John, Suzanne, Margaret “Peggy,” Molly, Fintan, Sam, Charles “Kainoa,” Colleen “Naki,” Patrick “Jojo”, Sean, Sylvia Zedkaia and Deardre Korean, and by 32 grandchildren.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz