There are conflicting reports of the official death toll from this week’s massive earthquake in Vanuatu as rescue teams continue to scour the rubble for survivors.

On Tuesday, the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office reported 14 deaths.

It said four people had been confirmed dead by the hospital, six others were killed in a landslide and four others died in a collapsed building.

But yesterday, the disaster management office reported only nine people had been confirmed dead by the hospital and made no mention of the deaths it had earlier attributed to the landslides and collapsed buildings.

One consistent figure is the more than 200 people injured, with the hospital saying many patients were being treated for broken bones.

This area has been closed to the public and search and rescue operations were ongoing.

Any buildings still standing had sustained significant structural damage.

The Port Vila main wharf remained closed due to a major landslide.

The two main water reservoirs supplying Port Vila had been totally destroyed and would require reconstruction — an assessment of the rest of the water network was ongoing.

A boil water notice is in place for all of Vila.

Power and telecommunications
The utility company Unelco is working to restore power and water supply.

Vodafone Vanuatu informed its customers that instant messaging on Messenger, Viber and WhatsApp had been restored on its mobile network.

Audio and video calling via these platforms, however, was still unavailable by today.

Vodafone said its team was working hard to resolve these issues and fully restore its internet services.

State of emergency
A one-week state of emergency was declared on Tuesday by the President, Nikenike Vurobaravu, for the worst affected areas.

Police had been urging people to adhere to the nightly curfew of 6pm to 6am local time.

They had also warned of a greater chance of opportunistic crimes being committed after the disaster and urged everyone to look out for each other.

Commercial flights
There were no commercial flights operating into or out of Vanuatu.

Local authorities said on Tuesday they were closing the Bauerfield International Airport to commercial flights for 72 hours to repair damage and prioritise disaster relief flights.

Passengers booked to fly Fiji Airways to Vila on Thursday had their flights moved to December 21.

Solomon Airlines had also indicated it would resume flying to Vanuatu from Saturday.

Virgin Airlines has cancelled flights until Sunday and a spokesperson for the Qantas Group told the ABC they were monitoring the situation closely.

International aid
International defence and medical personnel, search and rescue teams and disaster response experts from New Zealand, Australia and France were now on the ground in Port Vila.

They were helping local emergency response teams, which had been working around the clock since Tuesday’s 7.3 magnitude quake alongside locally based staff at UN agencies and non-government organisations in Vila.

Time is of the essence for the teams scouring the rubble for any sign of survivors.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the 12-day state of emergency imposed in New Caledonia on May 15 would not be extended “for the time being”.

The decision not to renew the state of emergency was mainly designed to “allow the components of the pro-independence FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front) to hold meetings and to be able to go to the roadblocks and ask for them to be lifted”, Macron said in a media release late yesterday.

The state of emergency officially ended at 5am today (Nouméa time).

It was imposed after deadly and destructive riots erupted in the French Pacific archipelago with a backdrop of ongoing protests against proposed changes to the French Constitution, that would allow citizens having resided there for at least 10 years to take part in local elections.

Pro-independence parties feared the opening of conditions of eligibility would significantly weaken the indigenous Kanak population’s political representation.

During a 17-hour visit to New Caledonia on Thursday last week, Macron set the lifting of blockades as the precondition to the resumption of “concrete and serious” political talks regarding New Caledonia’s long-term political future.

The talks were needed in order to find a successor agreement, including all parties (pro-independence and “loyalists” or pro-France), to the Nouméa Accord signed in 1998.

Attempts to hold these talks, over the past two-and-a-half years, have so far failed.

House arrests lifted
Not renewing the state of emergency would also put an end to restriction on movements and a number of house arrests placed on several pro-independence radical leaders — including Christian Téin, the leader of a so-called CCAT (Field Action Coordination Committee), close to the more radical fringe of FLNKS.

The CCAT is regarded as the main organiser of the protests which led to ongoing unrest.

In a speech published on social networks on Friday after Macron’s visit, Téin called for the easing of security measures to allow him to speak to militants, but in the same breath he assured supporters the intention was to “remain mobilised and maintain resistance”.

Since they broke out on May 13, the riots have caused seven deaths, hundreds of injuries and estimated damage of almost 1 billion euros (NZ$1.8 billion) to the local economy. Up to 500 companies, business and retail stores had also been looted or destroyed by arson.

Following Macron’s visit last week, a “mission” consisting of three high-level public servants has remained in New Caledonia to foster a resumption of political dialogue between leaders of all parties.

More reinforcements
In the same announcement, the French presidential office said a fresh contingent of “seven additional gendarme mobile forces units, for a total of 480” would be flown to New Caledonia “within the coming hours”.

Macron said this would bring the number of security forces in New Caledonia to 3500.

He once again condemned the blockades and looting, saying “this violence cannot pretend to represent a legitimate political action”.

In parallel to the lifting of the state of emergency, a dusk-to-dawn curfew remained in force.

On the ground, mainly in Nouméa and its outskirts, security operations were ongoing, with several neighbourhoods and main access roads still blocked and controlled by pockets of rioters.

At the weekend, intrusions from groups of rioters forced French forces to evacuate some 30 residents (mostly of European descent) some of whose houses had been set on fire.

La Tontouta airport still closed
Meanwhile, the international Nouméa-La Tontouta airport would remain closed to all commercial flights until June 2, it was announced on Monday. The airport, which remained cut off from the capital Nouméa due to pro-independence roadblocks, has been closed for the past three weeks.

French delegate minister for Overseas Marie Guévenoux, who arrived with Macron last week and has remained in New Caledonia since, assured on Sunday the situation in Nouméa and its outskirts was “improving”.

“Police and gendarmes are slowly regaining ground… The (French) state will regain all of these neighbourhoods,” she told France Television.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

After a week of violence that broke out in the capital of Nouméa following a controversial parliamentary vote for a bill expanding the settler electorate in New Caledonia, RSF said in a statement that the crisis was worrying for journalists working there.

RSF called on the authorities and “all the forces involved” to ensure their safety and guarantee the right to information.

While covering the clashes in Nouméa on Friday, May 17, a crew from the public television channel Nouvelle-Calédonie La 1ère, consisting of a journalist and a cameraman, were intimidated by about 20 unidentified hooded men.

They snatched the camera from the cameraman’s hands and threatened him with a stone, before smashing the windows of the journalists’ car and trying to seize it.

“The public broadcaster’s crew managed to escape thanks to the support of a motorist. France Télévisions management said it had filed a complaint the same day,” RSF reported.

According to a dozen accounts gathered by RSF, working conditions for journalists deteriorated rapidly from Wednesday, May 15, onwards.

Acts of violence
As the constitutional bill amending New Caledonia’s electoral body was adopted by the National Assembly on the night of May 14/15, a series of acts of violence broke out in the Greater Nouméa area, either by groups protesting against the electoral change or by militia groups formed to confront them.

The territory has been placed under a state of emergency and is subject to a curfew from which journalists are exempt.

RSF is alerting the authorities in particular to the situation facing freelance journalists: while some newsrooms are organising to send support to their teams in New Caledonia, freelance reporters find themselves isolated, without any instructions or protective equipment.

“The attacks on journalists covering the situation in New Caledonia are unacceptable. Everything must be done so that they can continue to work and thus ensure the right to information for all in conditions of maximum safety, said Anne Bocandé,
editorial director of RSF.

“RSF calls on the authorities to guarantee the safety and free movement of journalists throughout the territory.

“We also call on all New Caledonian civil society and political leaders to respect the integrity and the work of those who inform us on a daily basis and enable us to grasp the reality on the ground.”

While on the first day of the clashes on Monday, May 13, according to the information gathered by RSF, reporters managed to get through the roadblocks and talk to all the forces involved — especially those who are well known locally — many of them are still often greeted with hostility, if not regarded as persona non grata, and are the victims of intimidation, threats or violence.

“At the roadblocks, when we are identified as journalists, we receive death threats,” a freelance journalist told RSF.

“We are pelted with stones and violently removed from the roadblocks. The situation is likely to get worse”, a journalist from a local media outlet warned RSF.

As a result, most of the journalists contacted by RSF are forced to work only in the area around their homes.

“In any case, we’re running out of petrol. In the next few days, we’re going to find it hard to work because of the logistics,” said a freelance journalist contacted by RSF.

Distrust of journalists
The 10 or so journalists contacted by RSF — who requested anonymity against a backdrop of mistrust — have at the very least been the target of repeated insults since the start of the fighting.

According to information gathered by RSF, these insults continue outside the roadblocks, on social networks.

The majority of the forces involved, who are difficult for journalists to identify, share a mistrust of the media coupled with a categorical refusal to be recognisable in the images of reporters, photographers and videographers.

On May 15, President Emmanuel Macron declared an immediate state of emergency throughout New Caledonia. On the same day, the government announced a ban on the social network TikTok.

President Macron is due in New Caledonia today to introduce a “dialogue mission” in an attempt to seek solutions.

To date, six people have been killed and several injured in the clashes.

Pacific Media Watch collaborates with Reporters Without Borders.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The airline earlier told RNZ it would update customers as soon as it could.

Earlier today, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters told RNZ Morning Report government officials had been working on an “hourly basis” to see what could be done to help New Zealanders wanting to leave.

That included RNZ Air Force or using a commercial airline.

More than 200 New Zealanders were registered as being in the French Pacific territory. His advice to them was to stay in place and keep in contact.

A 12-day state of emergency was declared in the territory, at least 10 people were under house arrest, and TikTok has been banned.

RNZ Pacific said there were food and fuel shortages as well as problems accessing medications and healthcare services.

Biggest concerns
Before the closure of the airport, Wellington researcher Barbara Graham — who has been in Nouméa for five weeks — said the main issue was “the road to the airport . . .  and I understand it still impassable because of the danger there, the roadblocks and the violent groups of people”.

Airlines were looking to taking bigger planes to get more people out and were working with the airport to ensure the ground crew were also available, Graham said.

She said she was reasonably distant from the violence but had seen the devastation when moving accommodation.

Wellingtonian Emma Royland was staying at the University of New Caledonia and hoped to wait out the civil unrest, if she could procure enough food.

“Ideally the university will step in to take care of us, ideally although we must admit that the university themselves are also under a lot of hardship and they also will be having difficulties sourcing the food.”

The couple of hundred students at the university were provided with instant noodles, chips and biscuits, Royland said.

She went into town to try and find food but there were shortages and long queues, she said.

“It probably is one of my biggest concerns is actually being able to get into the city, as I stand here I can see the smoke obscuring the city from last night’s riots and it is a very big concern of being able to get that food, that would be the only reason that I would have to leave New Caledonia.”

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The suspected ringleaders of the unrest in New Caledonia have been placed in home detention and the social network TikTok has been banned as French security forces struggle to restore law and order.

The French territory faced its fourth day of severe rioting and unrest yesterday after protests erupted over proposed constitutional amendments.

Four people have now been confirmed dead, Charles Wea, a spokesperson for international relations for the president’s office, said.

The death toll has been revised today to five people after officials confirmed the death of a second police officer. However, RNZ Pacific understands it was an accidental killing which occurred as troops were preparing to leave barracks.

A newly introduced state of emergency has enabled suspected ringleaders to be placed in home detention, as well as a ban on Tiktok to be put in place.

French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc said Nouméa remained the “hottest spot” with some 3000-4000 rioters still in action on the streets of the capital Nouméa and another 5000 in the Greater Nouméa area.

Wea told RNZ Pacific the demonstrators “were very angry when their friends and families had been killed”.

‘Shops still closed’
“Shops are still closed. Many houses have been burnt. The international airport is closed, only military planes are allowed to land from Paris.”

Reports RNZ Pacific are receiving from the capital paint a dire picture. Shops are running out of food and hospitals are calling for blood donations.

Enforcing the state of emergency in New Caledonia.  Video: [in French] Caledonia TV

“This morning [Thursday] a few shops have been opened so people can buy some food to eat,” Wea said.

RNZ Pacific former news editor Walter Zweifel, who has been covering the French Pacific territory for over three decades, said New Caledonia had not seen unrest like this since the 1980s.

The number of guns circulating in the community was a major problem as people continued to carry firearms despite a government ban, he said.

“There are so many firearms in circulation, attempts to limit the number of weapons have been made over the years unsuccessfully.

“We are talking about roughly 100,000 arms or rifles in circulation in New Caledonia with a population of less than 300,000.”

More details about fatalities
One of the four people earlier reported dead was a French gendarme, who was reported to have been shot in the head.

“The other three are all Melanesians,” Le Franc said.

One was a 36-year-old Kanak man, another a 20-year-old man and the third was a 17-year-old girl.

The deaths occurred during a clash with one of the newly formed “civil defence” groups, who were carrying guns, Le Franc said.

“Those who have committed these crimes are assassins. They are individuals who have used firearms.

“Maintaining law and order is a matter for professionals, police and gendarmes.”

Le Franc added: “We will look for them and we will find them anyway, so I’m calling them to surrender right now . .. so that justice can take its course.”

‘Mafia-like, violent organisation’
French Home Affairs and Overseas minister Gérald Darmanin told public TV channel France 2 he had placed 10 leaders of the CCAT (an organisation linked to the pro-independence FLNKS movement and who Darmanin believed to be the main organiser of the riots) under home detention.

“This is a Mafia-like body which I do not amalgamate with political pro-independence parties . . . [CCAT] is a group that claims itself to be pro-independence and commits looting, murders and violence,” he said.

Similar measures would be taken against other presumed leaders over the course of the day [Thursday French time].

“I have numerous elements which show this is a Mafia-like, violent organisation that loots stores and shoots real bullets at [French] gendarmes, sets businesses on fire and attacks even pro-independence institutions,” Darmanin told France 2.

Massive reinforcements were to arrive shortly and the French state would “totally regain control”, he said.

The number of police and gendarmes on the ground would rise from 1700 to 2700 by Friday night.

Darmanin also said he would request that all legitimate political party leaders across the local spectrum be placed under the protection of police or special intervention group members.

Pointing fingers
Earlier on Thursday, speaking in Nouméa, Le Franc targeted the CCAT, saying there was no communication between the French State and CCAT, but that “we are currently trying to locate them”.

“This is a group of hooligans who wish to kill police, gendarmes. This has nothing to do with FLNKS political formations which are perfectly legitimate.

“But this CCAT structure is no longer relevant. Those who are at the helm of this cell are all responsible. They will have to answer to the courts,” he said.

However, CCAT has said it had called for calm.

Wea said the CCAT “did not tell the people to steal or break”.

The problem was that the French government “did not want to listen”, he said.

“The FLNKS has said for months not to go through with this bill.

France ‘not recognising responsibility’
“It is easy to say the CCAT are responsible, but the French government does not want to recognise their responsibility.”

Wea said he was hopeful for a peaceful resolution.

The FLNKS had always said that the next discussion with the French government would need to be around the continued management and organisation of the country for the next five years, he said.

The FLNKS also wanted to talk about the process of decolonisation.

“It is important to note that the [Pacific Islands Forum] and also the Melanesian Spearhead Group have always supported the independence of New Caledonia because independence is in the agenda of the United Nation.”

The Melanesian Spearhead Group and Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Charlot Salwai called on the French government to withdraw or annul the proposed constitutional amendments that sparked the civil unrest.

French President Emmanuel Macron said from Paris, where a meeting of a national defence council was now taking place every day, that he wished to hold a video conference with all of New Caledonia’s political leaders in order to assess the current situation.

But Wea said the problem was that “the French government don’t want to listen”.

“You cannot stop the Kanak people claiming freedom in their own country.”

He said concerns were mounting that Kanak people would “become a minority in their own country”.

That was why it was so important that the controversial constitutional amendments did not go any further, he said.

Economic impact
In the face of massive damage caused to the local economy, Southern Province President Sonia Backès has pleaded with French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal for a “special reconstruction fund” to be set up for New Caledonia’s businesses.

“The local Chamber of Commerce estimates that initial damage to our economy amounts to some 150 million euros [NZ$267 million],” she wrote.

All commercial flights in and out of Nouméa-La Tontouta International Airport remain cancelled.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Worried New Caledonian expats in Aotearoa admit they are “terrified” for friends and family amid ongoing violence and civil unrest in the French Pacific territory.

The death toll remained at four tonight, and hundreds have been injured after electoral changes sparked widespread rioting by pro-independence supporters in the capital of Nouméa.

French President Emmanuel Macron has declared a 12-day state of emergency and about 1200 police enforcements are due to arrive from France.

Many worried locals have been confined to their homes.

New Zealand-based New Caledonians have explained how the situation in their homeland has left them on edge.

Pascale Desrumaux and her family have been in Auckland for two years.

With parts of the country in turmoil, she said she was scared for her family and friends back home in Nouméa.

“I’m terrified and I’m very stressed,” Desrumaux said.

“[My family] are afraid for their lives.”

‘Locked in’
The precarious situation is illustrated by the fact her family cannot leave their homes and neighbouring stores have been ransacked then torched by protesters.

“They are locked in at the moment, so they can’t move — so they feel anxiety of course,” Desrumaux said.

“On top of that, shortly they will run out of food.

“The situation is complex.”

Desrumaux is checking in with family members every few hours for updates.

Amid the current climate, she said she had mixed emotions about being abroad.

“This shared feeling of being relieved to be here in New Zealand and grateful because my kids and husband are not in danger,” she said.

“At the same time I feel so bad for my friends and family over there.”

‘A beautiful place’
She stressed her home country remained “a beautiful place” and hoped the crisis could be resolved peacefully.

Fellow Auckland-based New Caledonian Anais Bride said she had been left distraught by what was unfolding.

In the past 48 hours, her parents have vacated their Nouméa home to stay with Bride’s sister as tensions escalated.

Based on her conversations with loved ones, she said that international news coverage had not fully conveyed the fluid crisis facing citizens on the ground.

“It took my mother a little while for her to accept the fact that it was time to leave, because she wanted to stay where she lives.

“My sisters’ just told her ‘at the end of the day, it’s just your house, it’s material’.

“It’s been hard for my parents.”

One supermarket standing
She said there was only one supermarket left standing in Nouméa, with many markets destroyed by fire.

Kevin, who did not want his surname to be published, is another New Caledonian living in New Zealand.

While his family has not seen much unrest first hand, explosions and smoke were constant where they were, he said.

He said it was hard to predict how the unrest could be straightened out.

“It’s hard to tell,” he said.

“The most tragic thing of course is the four deaths, and many businesses have been burned down so many people will lose their job.

“The main thing is how people rebuild connections, peace and of course the economy.”

‘Timely exit’ from Nouméa
Christchurch woman Viki Moore spent a week in New Caledonia before making a “timely exit” out of Nouméa on Monday as civil tension intensified.

“There was a heavy police presence out at the airport with two [armoured vehicles] at the entrance and heavily armed military police roaming around.

“Once we got into the airport we were relieved to be there in this sort of peaceful oasis.

“We didn’t really have a sense of what was still to come.”

She admitted that she did not fully comprehend the seriousness of it until she had left the territory.

Warnings for travellers
Flights through Nouméa are currently grounded.

Air New Zealand said it was monitoring the situation in New Caledonia, with its next flight NZ932 from Auckland to Nouméa still scheduled for Saturday morning.

Chief Operational Integrity and Safety Officer Captain David Morgan said this “could be subject to change”.

“The safety of our passengers, crew, and airport staff is our top priority and we will not operate flights unless their safety can be guaranteed,” he said.

“We will keep passengers updated on our services and advise customers currently in Nouméa to follow the advice of local authorities and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.”

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A New Zealand man has described scenes of chaos in the New Caledonia capital of Nouméa during the escalating civil unrest.

Four people have died and hundreds have been injured during rioting by pro-independence supporters over electoral changes.

French president Emmanuel Macron has declared a 12-day state of emergency and about 1200 police enforcements were due to arrive from France.

New Zealand has upgraded its SafeTravel alert for parts of New Caledonia.

All commercial flights to and from the Nouméa-La Tontouta international airport have been cancelled and many holiday makers have been stuck in Nouméa.

Aucklander Mike Lightfoot is one of those people. He arrived in Nouméa in Monday and described the scenes in the city for RNZ Morning Report.

Lightfoot said that as he and his wife started to make their way to their hotel they saw protesters, some with machetes, but they were not too worried.

‘Intersections on fire’
“It was very peaceful, we thought at the time, but as we got closer into town we could certainly see there was unrest.

“There was intersections on fire . . . as we came into the town itself there were the Gendarmerie in full gear . . . we thought this was getting serious.”

Lightfoot said his wife needed a doctor for a chest condition and as they were in the doctor’s surgery “we heard explosions and gunshots very close to us”.

“They were rioting right through town, the town was on fire. Fortunately our taxi driver pulled down a side street, stopped for a second, got himself together. There were people running around our car and carrying on and he took off.

“We climbed up in through the suburbs and as we came down to try and get back to our hotel we came to a roundabout and they had the roundabout completely blocked off, there would have been, we estimate, around 150 of them there protesting.

“The whole roundabout was on fire, they had big blocks in the middle of the road.

“As we edged through, the smoke was so black we couldn’t really see the road. One of them whacked the car as we went through but yeah, it was pretty unsettling . . . ”

‘Be prepared to evacuate’
His hotel, Chateau Royal have asked people staying there not to step foot outside of the complex and “they’ve asked us to be prepared, that we may need to evacuate”.

About 51 New Zealanders were staying at the hotel, he said.

“We’re sort of feeling that people in New Zealand are really not understanding how serious this is and it’s quite unsettling for us all here, in fact we want out of here very quickly to be fair.”

Lightfoot said the airlines were keeping them informed.

“As soon as we are able to get to the airport they’ve [one airline] said that we are definitely on one of those planes. Air New Zealand at this point are planning to have a flight here on Saturday, if that goes ahead they also have us listed on that flight to get us out.”

Supplies in the issue were a problem and staff were living on site for their own safety, he said.

RNZ Pacific’s Koroi Hawkins said some Kanak leaders have told him they seem to have lost control of the youth.

Other residents in the city of Nouméa, some of them pro-French, have began to arm themselves as vigilantes.

Unrest a concern – Sepuloni
Labour Party’s deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni told RNZ’s First Up the growing unrest in New Caledonia was a concern.

Sepuloni said it was a worry, but she was not sure whether New Zealand would have any involvement in trying to bring the situation in the French territory under control.

At last year’s Pacific Leaders Forum, French Polynesian representatives were already expressing concern about how some policies from the French government might affect its inidgenous population, she said.

Glimmer of hope, says former envoy
A former Australian consul-general for New Caledonia Denise Fisher said measures in the French territory could hopefully fix the immediate security problem, but this was not the core issue.

“The key issue that set off the situation was about representation, who can vote in local elections.

“And it seems such an esoteric issue but it’s a critical issue, especially for the independence supporters.”

Fisher said 40 years ago, when peace agreements were reached after four years of violence, the key issue for the Kanak independence leaders was to constrain voting to only those with long term residence in New Caledonia.

“So it’s a core issue with the breaking down and the expiry of these agreements. We’re now in a political kind of a vacuum and talks about this haven’t got very far.”

She said there was a glimmer of hope on Wednesday.

“Some independence parties and some loyalist parties issued a joint communiqué calling for peace

“They’ve been having, as they have at the end of last year, informal talks, that they think they can talk and come to some sort of agreement to put to the French in the next couple of weeks.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

France has declared a state of emergency on the Pacific territory of New Caledonia — New Zealand’s closest neighbour — after four people, including a police officer, have been killed in pro-independence riots over voting changes that further marginalise indigenous Kanaks, news agencies report.

The move came as the French government confirmed an additional 500 members of the French national police and gendarmerie were being sent to the territory to reinforce the 1800 already there and to try and quell the violence.

The state of emergency will last 12 days and give authorities additional powers to ban gatherings and forbid people from moving around the French-ruled territory.

The last time France imposed such measures on one of its overseas territories was in 1985 —  also in New Caledonia in the middle of a similar upheaval known as “Les événements“, the Interior Ministry said.

Rioters torched vehicles and businesses and looted stores and this video below (in French) from the local Caledonia TV shows the destruction in the wake of the protests.

Deaths amid the third day of rioting.               Video: Caledonia TV

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Last year, the Papua New Guinea government moved in a subtle way into the Fourth Estate.

It tried to — and is still trying to — find a way to curtail and restrict your access to mainstream and social media by trying to gag media organisations.

Obviously, this was an attack on media freedom. We were not going to take it sitting down.

We met the government head-on to protect our country’s media freedoms, and to ensure the public — that’s you — are well informed on what is happening in our country.

Today, we report on a government endeavor, which we consider extremely dangerous and an affront to the intelligence of Papua New Guineans, which we also believe is impinging our constitutional freedoms.

The government, in introducing a State of Emergency, has gone to a dangerous level of invoking section 70 of the NICTA Act.

Section 70, according to our Prime Minister, gives absolute rights to government agents including police, soldiers and undercover agents, to enter any home and check private house and property.

Section 70 also gives these agents all the power to search your phone. This is in our view draconian and extreme.

What will become of democracy? Is this a test run for what is yet to come?

We will support any move to impose restrictions that will save lives and protect properties and ensure peace and good order.

But we do not promote laws that will instill fear, limit freedom and impinge on the rights of the common people.

No to draconian governance, no to dictatorial leadership.

While we support the State of Emergency as a deterrent to further violence, looting and acts of terror against businesses and citizens, we consider the power to search without a warrant as a direct attack on the freedoms guaranteed by the constitution to our people.

This Section 70 of the National Information and Communication Technology (NICTA) Act 2009 seems to be the same section used by government in its recent attempt to curtail the media.

While this action seems to have been sparked by the Black Wednesday looting in Port Moresby on December 10, one cannot rule out the perplexity of the first sitting of Parliament on February 13 where a Vote of No Confidence in the government is looming.

The NICTA Act allows the government to require operator licensees, such as telecommunication companies, to provide ICT services, restrict or delay certain communications, disclose the content of specified communications to the Minister, and coordinate with other government organisations if necessary.

The activation of Section 70 is likely to agitate citizens regarding privacy rights and the protection of personal information.

However, the government contends that these measures are necessary to address public emergencies and ensure public safety.

The government has yet to come clear on how this section 70 will be enforced and carried out.

Will the police and army use section 70 to conduct raids on suspected homes, communities, and people?

Will there be search warrants for these phone searches, home searches, bag searches?

What is the recourse for the public if they are caught in the crossfire of section 70?

The Prime Minister and his Minister for Internal Security must explain this clearly.

This editorial was published by the PNG Post-Courier on 16 January 2024.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s Communications Minister Timothy Masiu has announced stringent measures to control social media in the country for the next 10 days of the State of Emergency.

The government’s threat drew a sharp rebuke from former prime minister Peter O’Neill who called the move a “sinister fear campaign against the people” and “a threat on the media freedom” of ordinary citizens.

Masiu, a former journalist before becoming a politician, warned that the government would not hesitate to shut down social media applications and sites if there was continuous abuse and misuse of social media in spreading fake news, misinformation and disinformation in the country.

He issued the warning citing significant evidence of serious abuse of social media spreading false information that led to destruction of properties in the capital Port Moresby and parts of the country in last week’s Black Wednesday resulting in deaths.

Masiu said people who engaged in such bogus activity would lose their social media accounts and they could be arrested and charged for fomenting acts of violence.

He said: “I have statutory power under the National Information and Communication Technology Act 2009 to restrict access to social media sites and applications if this continues.

“The Ministry of ICT has observed a sharp spike in the use of social media from Wednesday, January 10, 2024, and many are misinformation and disinformation and we now give 10 days effective from today for people to adhere or face a complete shutdown of social media sites and applications for the duration of the State of Emergency. ”

‘Monitoring of false information’
He said discussions on social media that incited violence, destruction, spreading of false information or confidential government information, opinions that were wrong, or sending false information would be monitored and legal action taken immediately.

Masiu said national security, public emergency and public safety was critical to a secure nation and a “happy and safe country”.

“I have instructed the agencies under my ministry to strengthen monitoring and report any abuses of social media to the police cybercrime unit to begin investigations, arrest and prosecute and also take down fake accounts and sites.”

Last Friday, when introducing the two-week State of Emergency following Black Wednesday, Prime Minister James Marape announced draconian emergency measures including searches of private homes, property, vehicle and phones by government agents.

Masiu said PNG was a civilised country and citizens must abide by rules and laws. Every citizen had a duty and obligation to ensure “we progress to be a better country”.

However, an irate O’Neill said: “It is not surprising that we see intimidating armoured personnel carriers on the streets today in Port Moresby and now threats that our freedom of speech will be removed with the potential cancellation of social media.

“The government is doing its very best to shut down our constitutional rights in a fear campaign.”

Government ‘fears people’s voices’
O’Neill continued to counter the government plan by suggesting the government now feared the people’s voices.

“It seems that the government is in fear of the voice of its own people when it should instead be listening to the struggle of the people who discuss online the bad governance practices of this government; high unemployment; budget in a mess and crippling cost of living,” he said.

“That is what people are talking about on the street, in their homes and on social media. Will they next enter our homes and monitor conversation’s between family members?

“Government should listen up and stop this nonsense of trying to control our vibrant democracy.

Get back to basics and build our country; live within our means and develop jobs and provide quality healthcare and education. Get back to old fashioned policing not intimidation.”

Opposition Leader Joseph Lelang and his deputy Douglas Tomuriesa did not respond to PNG Post-Courier questions last night.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fires from the 24-hour spate of looting, rioting and mayhem in Papua New Guinea’s Port Moresby — the worst ever social unrest in the city — have all but subsided into skeletal remains of ash and buildings in National Capital District (NCD).

The smoke has cleared with six members of Parliament resigning from the Pangu Pati-led government, 10 people are dead in in Lae and NCD, 46 are wounded and hospitalised, and multiple people are suffering non-threatening injuries.

The government responded by declaring a State of Emergency in NCD and suspending Police Commissioner David Manning and secretaries of the Department of Finance Sam Penias, Treasury Andrew Oeka, Personnel Management Taies Sansan for 14 days.

The Post-Courier understands there was disagreement on the suspension and that the SOE was not the way forward. However, National Executive Council decided on going ahead with the SOE and suspension.

According to details released by Prime Minister James Marape, cabinet deliberated yesterdy afternoon and in a decision invoking Section 226 of the Constitution a a 14-day SOE was declared in Port Moresby only.

“14 days is the limit of the SOE, any longer period would require Parliament approval,” Marape said.

Meanwhile, according to the details released by Marape, Deputy Commissioner of Police-Special Operations Donald Yamasombi is now acting Police Commissioner and Controller of the country.

“Secretaries for Treasury, Finance and Personnel Management who are suspended for 14 days, their respective deputies are now acting.”

Prime Minister Marape reiterated his claim that riots in Port Moresby had been organised, but declined to say they were political, instead saying his government would only be removed on floor of Parliament.

He said that Chief Secretary and others would undertake an investigation of what happened in Port Moresby.

In other coverage of the crisis by the weekend edition of the Post-Courier, Claudia Tally reports:

Few shops open
Port Moresby was in confusion yesterday following the aftermath of the worst ever civil disorder as reality sets in leaving people with no shops open to buy food and essentials from.

While the PNG Defence Force and members of the police patrolled the city’s streets in an attempt to restore normalcy many genuine city residents were queued at the only three service stations open to refuel their vehicles in anticipation of the weekend.

A-Mart supermarket at Manu Auto Port was the only shop open within the vicinity of Taurama and Boroko suburbs where angry shoppers crowded around the shop begging for entry which was heavily guarded by PNG Defence Force soldiers.

On Wednesday, more than 20 shops were looted and 8 others burnt leaving the streets of Port Moresby covered in papers and plastics from the items that were looted by hundreds of people who took advantage of the city polices strike over their salaries.

A mother of four who wished to be anonymous was worried where she would buy food for her children over the next couple of weeks as all the shops, she knows have been either looted, burnt or are closed for security reasons.

“I went to a shop at Hanuabada and waited for three hours for it to open to buy my children’s food but unfortunately, it was not open so I came back,” she said.

‘How are we going to survive’
“If these issues are not resolved, how are we going to survive.

“These shops are our gardens. They are where we get our food from.”

Meanwhile, many tucker boxes and canteens in the city were open today and their prices have sky rocketed only hours after Wednesday’s wild rampage.

For example, at Konedobu a 1kg packet of rice now costs K10 (NZ $4.50) — double the price prior to the looting.

Following the disorder, many clinics were also closed to the public over safety concerns.

Miriam Zarriga, Gorethy Kenneth and Claudia Tally are PNG Post-Courier reporters. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s opposition has called on Prime Minister James Marape to immediately recall Parliament to address the escalating killings in the upper Highlands provinces.

The opposition also wants the debate to include other law and order issues that have spiralled out of control in other parts of the country.

The call was made by Deputy Opposition leader Douglas Tomuriesa following images of victims lined up along the highway in the Enga Province.

“I strongly urge the Prime Minister to recall Parliament for us leaders to come together as one and discuss the possibility of passing an Emergency Act as allowed for by the Constitution to address this serious issue,” he said.

“These gruesome images of human beings been murdered, stripped naked and lined up next to the highway by their enemies or criminal elements, especially in the upper Highlands provinces of Enga, Hela and Southern Highlands, is becoming a regular activity and the government and elected leaders must not take this lightly, its human lives we are talking about.

“It’s a national emergency and I call on the Prime Minister to immediately recall Parliament for a bipartisan committee to be formed to address this issue,” Tomuriesa said.

He said parliamentarians were elected to lead and address such serious issues affecting citizens and the country as a whole.

‘Killings too frequent’
“We as elected leaders shouldn’t be taking long breaks — these killings are becoming too frequent and we should be addressing them head on during Parliament sessions.

“We just cannot ignore it as fake social media posts,” he said.

Tomuriesa said he was making this call as a concerned citizen, a Papuan leader and deputy opposition leader.

“The spillover effects of what is happening up in the upper Highlands region will be felt everywhere — in Mamose, New Guinea Islands and the Southern Region. So as mandated leaders we must do something.”

Republished from PNG Post-Courier with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A New Zealander on holiday in Maui says the wildfires devastating the Hawai’ian island are unlike anything he has seen before.

Deadly wildfires on Maui prompted a county-wide state of emergency, and several brush fires have also caused evacuations on Hawai’i Island.

Officials say at least 53 people have died and more than 270 buildings have been damaged or destroyed, the BBC reported.

US President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in the state of Hawai’i, meaning the federal government will provide funding to assist state and local recovery efforts.

Canada-based New Zealander Tim Hoy, who was on holiday in Maui, said powerful winds fuelled the fires as they spread.

“We’re located in between two fires right now, and the wind forces have been nothing like I’ve witnessed before,” he said.

“I’ve spent a lot of years in Wellington, it’s stronger than what you’d see on the strongest day in Wellington.”

Hundreds of NZers in Hawai’i
House of Travel chief operating officer Brent Thomas said hundreds of New Zealanders were on Hawai’i when the fires started.

“It’s a very popular destination, particularly given it’s winter in New Zealand,” he said.

“We’ve got hundreds of people up there at the moment, but obviously not all of them are impacted.”

🎥WATCH: On-air view of Hawaii County after the fire incidents. #Hawaiiwildfires #mauifire #Hawaiifire #MauiWildfires pic.twitter.com/5lf8vvvjOM

— Forsige Breaking News (@ForsigeNews) August 10, 2023

Hoy said one of the fires was under control, but the other was still raging.

“They’ve done a great job of controlling one of the fires,” he said.

“The other one, it’s completely wiped out a township and it’s unable to be contained.”

Maui County estimated more than 270 buildings had been damaged in the fires.

“My daughter’s friend, her family’s house was burned down,” Hoy said. “They’re currently a few miles down the coast staying at accommodation there.”

Lāhainā devastated
The fire on the island’s west coast tore through the town of Lāhainā. Hoy said everyone there was told to evacuate.

“The area that got wiped out was a major tourist destination, and everyone’s been asked to leave Maui if they can,” he said. “So they’ve headed to the airport, and there’s people in shelters.”

Hawaii wildfires scorched land ‘like an apocalypse’
The wildfires began on Tuesday and spread quickly, fuelled by strong winds generated by Hurricane Dora#Hawaiiwildfires pic.twitter.com/CqG6o8Y5er

— Uelinton Arakaki (@ArakakiUelinton) August 10, 2023

Hawai’i Tourism Authority public affairs officer Illihia Gionson said Lāhainā, which was once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawai’i, had historic and cultural importance.

“One of the most historic towns on Maui, Lāhainā, is for all intents and purposes burnt to the ground,” he said.

“Little left there other than ash and rubble, lots of older buildings [made of] wood. So it appears a lot of those landmarks are gone.”

Gionson said the safety of tourists was vital, but local residents needed the most support.

“We think about the importance of assisting visitors in getting out, to free up those resources and attention for the thousands of residents whose homes were affected, whose businesses were affected, whose livelihoods were affected,” he said.

“We’re keeping them front and centre in our thoughts and prayers.”

Victoria University Pacific Studies lecturer Dr Emalani Case, who was born in Hawai’i, said residents of Maui should come first.

She urged would-be tourists to stay away while the island recovered.

“A really important message to come out of what’s unfolding right now is: don’t go to Maui,” she said.

“If you’re planning a trip, don’t go there. The resources and the energies and the money on that island right now really needs to go to the people who are living there and who are going to have to struggle for a while.”

Dr Case said it was an emotional time for all Hawai’ians.

“It’s so hard to be so far away,” she said. “I don’t even think we know the scale of it all yet, but just watching it online has been heartbreaking.”

New Zealand’s Fire and Emergency said it was prepared to send firefighters to Hawai’i if the US government asked for help.

“We keep in frequent touch with our counterparts in Canada and the US during the northern hemisphere fire season,” a spokesperson said.

“So far we have not received a formal request for assistance from the USA.”

Service delivery wildfire manager Tim Mitchell said fires like those on Maui were extremely destructive.

“They get very hot, we’re talking hundreds or even thousands of degrees,” he said. “Under those conditions they’re just not survivable, and they absolutely consume everything in their path.”

He said it was vital for people to be aware of wildfire risks.

“They will spread faster than what you can outrun,” he said.

New Zealand will enter its own wildfire season within the next couple of months.

Mitchell said a fire could start anywhere and at any time.

“Historically, we wouldn’t have necessarily thought of Hawai’i as a high wildfire risk place, there’s places in New Zealand that we wouldn’t consider high risk,” he said.

“It just goes to show that, if you’ve got the dry vegetation and you get a spark or an ignition, that wildfires can occur everywhere.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. Additional reporting by the BBC.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A state of local emergency has been declared in Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest city Auckland today as heavy rain and thunderstorms affect the region.

Auckland’s Emergency Management duty controller said a band of heavy rain was expected to come across the Auckland region between now and 7pm.

Controller Parul Sood said that while there had been a lull in the rain further downfalls were possible with localised downpours of around 20 to 33 mm expected.

She said Auckland Council had received about 490 stormwater related calls, the majority of which were to do with surface flooding, and only about 18 to do with flooding in homes.

Fire and Emergency has received 277 weather-related call outs today, most from Auckland.

Its on-call commander for Tāmaki Makaurau, Brad Mosby, said that about one third of the calls were urgent.

He urged people to avoid unnecessary travel and stay clear of floodwaters.

Meanwhile, thunderstorms continued to roll across the top half of the North Island.

Metservice said severe thunderstorm warnings were in place for South Waikato, Matamata Piako, Western Bay Of Plenty, Taupo and Rotorua until just before 4.30pm.

A severe thunderstorm Watch was also in force for Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula and the rest of Waikato and Bay Of Plenty.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A state of emergency has been declared in Vanuatu following the damage to infrastructure and homes left by severe tropical cyclone Judy.

It comes as the country deals with a second cyclone, called Kevin, bears down on the country.

At 2am local time the category 2 cyclone was about 165km south-west of Santo and 225km west north-west of Malekula.

Red alerts are in place for Sanma, Malampa, and Penama, with damaging gale force winds expected to affect those provinces within the next 12 hours.

Yellow alerts are in place for Torba and Shefa.

Meanwhile, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake has struck just offshore of Vanuatu.

The US Geological Survey reports the quake struck just after 5am local time, and was 10km deep.

No tsunami warning has been issued.

Action plan announced by PM
Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau said that declaring a state of emergency would allow the islands most affected by Judy to receive help immediately.

“I am pleased to announce that the Council of Ministers has met this afternoon [Thursday] and it has approved a request from the National Disaster Committee to ask the President of the Republic of Vanuatu to declare a State of Emergency for the islands that have been highly affected and impacted by tropical cyclone Judy — effective this evening.

“We have had two opportunities to meet with our partners and I am pleased to reveal everyone that has approached us are standing by to assist us in regard to conducting assessments and a quick response and whatever we require them to help us with.

“Therefore, on behalf of the people of Vanuatu and the government, I want to say to all these people thank you so much.

“To all our development partners who even as the tropical cyclone [Judy] started to approach us had already reached out and said they were standing by and ready to assist us.

“Our officials are working around the clock to try and assess the impact of the cyclone [Judy] on all the provinces in the country.

“At this stage they are still compiling an official report that we will be able to work with and which will enable our development partners to appreciate the level of assistance that we will require from them.

“As we speak aerial assessments are being undertaken along with other assessments on the ground to enable us to declare disaster zones in areas that are highly affected.”

Prime Minister Kalsakau said development partners have also offered help with assessments or quick responses to the most affected communities, or any help required by the Vanuatu government.

Aid group ‘gearing up’ to help
The country director for World Vision Vanuatu, Kendra Derousseau, said her organisation stood ready to help in the recovery.

“We are gearing up for some key response areas that we know happen after severe cyclones,” he said.

“That is emergency shelter provisions, such as tarps and also hammers and nails, and also hygiene kits to ensure that basic needs are met, as well as jerry cans so families can have access to clean water.

“And we will be standing by ready to go with those when the government approves us to respond,” she said.

Derousseau said said that while the capital Port Vila lost power its water service was quickly restored.

She said most of the city’s infrastructure appeared to have stood up to the storm but not some residential housing.

“So anyone who was living in either a tradtional house with a thatched roof or a less sturdy house than those with cyclone strapping and nailing would have suffered significant damage to their houses.”

Derousseau said the big concern now was Cyclone Kevin expected to arrive midday today in Port Vila.

Meanwhile, 11 babies from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Vila Central Hospital have a new refuge following damage caused by Cyclone Judy.

The babies have been moved to the former outpatient section in tho colonial hospital after the ceiling in the maternity Ward was damaged, causing leaks, making the ward unsafe for the babies in incubators.

There were also leaks in the children’s wards forcing a similar evacuation.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz