EMTV – rliosi – The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) is considering a full membership application by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.
Indonesia currently has associate member status with the MSG and is strongly opposed to West Papua being granted full membership.
It is Indonesia’s view that West Papua already falls under their (Indonesian republic) representation in the MSG.
Foreign Ministers of the MSG member countries met yesterday evening in Port Villa to discuss guidelines which relate to the bid by West Papua for membership in the group.
Solomon Island’s foreign minister, Milner Tozaka, said the MSG leaders in July requested legal clarification on guidelines for membership.
“So that request has been attended to appropriately by the legal people and they have made a recommendation to be used for the foreign ministers to look at and then we will recommend it to the leaders for endorsement,” he explained.
Tozaka confirmed that there won’t be a decision on the Liberation Movement’s application however he did say that they already have observer status.
MSG countries that have shown their support for the Liberation Movements full membership include Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and the FLNKS Kanaks movement.
Papua New Guinea and Fiji, have however leaned towards the Indonesian side on this issue.
Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Charlot Salwai, said his country’s foreign policy remained firm that Vanuatu is not completely free of colonial bondage until all of Melanesia is free.
Melanesian Spearhead Group foreign ministers are this evening meeting in Vanuatu’s capital to discuss guidelines which relate to a West Papuan bid for membership in the group.
MSG senior officials met yesterday in Port Vila and, as with today’s foreign ministers meeting, the findings of a constitutional committee review of MSG rules on membership are the main agenda item.
This comes as the MSG considers a full membership application by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.
Vanuatu prime minister Charlot Salwai accepts traditional head dress from the United Liberation Movement for West Papua. Photo: Len Garae
The foreign minister of Solomon Islands, Milner Tozaka, said the MSG leaders in July requested legal clarification on guidelines for membership.
“So that request has been attended to appropriately by the legal people and they have made a recommendation to be used for the foreign ministers to look at and then we will recommend it to the leaders for endorsement,” he explained.
Milner Tozaka confirms there won’t be a decision this week on the full membership application by the Liberation Movement, which already has observer status.
The leaders of the MSG member states are not expected to have their summit until early in the new year.
The Movement’s leaders are present at this week’s MSG meetings in Port Vila, along with leaders of all the main pro-independence groups.
Vanuatu’s prime minister Charlot Salwai has reiterated his country’s support for the Liberation Movement to be give full membership, as well as for West Papua to be independent.
Mr Salwai said his country’s foreign policy remained firm that Vanuatu is not completely free of colonial bondage until all of Melanesia is free.
It’s understood that Solomon Islands and New Caledonia’s FLNKS Kanaks movement are also in support on the matter of the MSG membership.
However the other two full members of the MSG, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, have tended to side with Indonesia on this issue.
Indonesia, which has associate member status at the MSG, is firmly opposed to West Papuans being granted full membership in the group.
Jakarta says Papuans are already covered by the Indonesian republic in terms of representation in the MSG.
A series of Melanesian Spearhead Group meetings are taking place this week in Vanuatu’s capital to look at the group’s membership guidelines.
Last month, the MSG secretariat scheduled this week’s meeting in Port Vila for leaders of its members to discuss a West Papuan bid for full membership.
However there will not be a leaders summit component at this week’s meetings, with the expectation that they will now meet early in the new year.
An Indonesian captures the Melanesian Spearhead Group proceedings, 20 December 2016 in Port Vila, on device. West Papuan representatives Benny Wenda and Octo Mote (MSG observers with the United Liberation Movement) in foreground. Photo: Supplied
But today in Vila, MSG senior officials met, and tomorrow the group’s foreign ministers are to meet, to discuss the findings of a constitutional committee that has reviewed MSG rules on membership.
It’s understood there won’t be a decision on the full membership application by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua this week.
Fiji’s prime minister and foreign minister Frank Bainimarama is not in Vila for this week’s MSG meeting, but a leaders summit to decide on West papuan membership is expected early in the new year. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades
In a sign of the sensitivity around the issue within the MSG, leaders have this year deferred a number of summits where West Papuan membership was a priority item.
The Sub-Committee on Legal and Institutional Issues was tasked by MSG leaders at their Honiara summit in July to clarify guidelines for observer, associate and full membership in the group.
The MSG’s five full members – Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia’s FLNKS Kanaks Movement – have been divided over whether to grant full membership to West Papuans.
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua was granted observer status in the MSG last year but its bid for full membership has been deferred pending clarity on the guidelines.
United Liberation Movement for West Papua representatives outside the Melanesian Spearhead Group secretariat, 20 December 2016. Photo: Supplied
The Liberation Movement’s leaders, including Octo Mote, Benny Wenda, Rex Rumakiek and Jacob Rumbiak are in Port Vila for this week’s meetings.
Representatives of Indonesia, which has associate member status at the MSG, are also present.
RadioNZ – The director-general of the Melanesian Spearhead Group says the secretariat has a proposed date for a leaders summit to discuss West Papuan membership.
MSG members are yet to settle on a date for their summit. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades
Amena Yauvoli told Vanuatu media that 20 December is the proposed date for the summit in Port Vila, with the secretariat awaiting a consensus on the matter among members.
The meeting was postponed for a second time in early October, and the secretariat had since been unable to pin down a date that works for all leaders from the five full MSG members.
The five are Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia’s FLNKS Kanaks Movement.
They are due to deliberate on an application for full membership by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua which is opposed by Indonesia.
The Liberation Movement was granted observer status in the MSG in 2015, while Indonesia is an associate member.
In a sign of the sensitivity around the issue within the MSG, leaders have this year deferred a number of summits where West Papuan membership was a priority item.
Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, who is the current MSG chairman, has been instrumental in advancing the West papuan membership issue. Photo: RNZI
The annual MSG leaders summit was held in Honiara in July after several late changes of venue and date.
In Honiara, leaders deferred their decision on the Liberation Movement’s application for full membership, saying adequate membership criteria had to be developed first.
Vanuatu’s prime minister Charlot Salwai subsequently explained that since last year MSG membership criteria had been developed which did not reflect the group’s founding principles.
Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and the FLNKS are understood to support the Liberation Movement for full membership, with PNG and Fiji inclining towards Jakarta’s stand on the matter.
PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato (right) talking to his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi. Photo: Supplied
Amid frustrations with the availability of all members, reports have surfaced that the MSG could make a decision on Papuan membership if three of the five full members were present.
Meanwhile, according to Mr Yauvoli, as well as the membership matter, MSG leaders are required to meet in order to approve the secretariat’s 2017 budget.
The secretariat has struggled with a lack of resourcing in recent years, with some full members not paying their full fee commitments.
RadioNZ – A Vanuatu churchman says there are plans underway to ensure West Papua will be granted full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group before Christmas.
The Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat in Port Vila, Vanuatu Photo: RNZI / Jamie Tahana
Summit meetings of the regional body have been deferred twice this year amid apparent disagreement among leaders over the issue.
The Chairman of the Vanuatu Free West Papua Association, Pastor Alan Nafuki, said he received a briefing on the situation from the MSG’s chair and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare last week.
Pastor Nafuki said he’d been told the summit would now go ahead in early December whether or not all countries attend.
He said full membership for West Papua would be a great achievement and like Christmas cake for all Melanesian countries.
“I am satisfied with what he said and I am very pleased. I think some of the government people they are trying to revisit the MSG constitution and see what option they can take best to accommodate the West Papuans.”
Pastor Nafuki said he’d made sure the prime ministers of Vanuatu and Solomon Islands understood that the people of Vanuatu were 100 percent behind membership for West Papuans.
The Melanesian Spearhead Group’s Leaders Summit scheduled to be hosted in Port Vila from October 3-4 2016 has been postponed to December.
The MSG Secretariat has verbally confirmed this to 96 Buzz FM news but gave no reasons for this postponement, advising it will issue a press release in due course to clarify the reasons for this postponement. This week, the Vanuatu West Papua Association hosted the Wantok Summit which brought together Free West Papua Civil Society Organisation support groups within Melanesia, including the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).
The Wantok Summit was planned months ago to be hosted in Port Vila in parallel with the MSG Leaders Summit, which unfortunately has been deferred to the end of 2016.
Daily Post understands that one of the main issues to host the Wantok Summit is to convince the MSG Leaders on the admission of ULMWP as a full member of MSG.
Members of the ULMWP and other Free West Papua Civil Society Organisation support groups will leave the country this weekend.
glenda@dailypost.vu By Glenda Willie Sep 30, 2016 0
Vanuatu’s Deputy Prime Minister Joe Natuman believes other people are trying to use the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to drive their own agendas, saying it is similar to Jesus Christ who was betrayed and sold for 30 pieces of silver.
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) was not admitted as full member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group during the Special MSG summit in Honiara, Solomon Islands, last week.
“Our Prime Minister was the only one talking in support of full membership for West Papua in the MSG, the Solomon Islands Prime Minister couldn’t say very much because he is the chairman,” the veteran politician told Buzz FM 96’s Coffee and Controversy host Mark O’Brien.
“Prime Minister Charlot Salwai was the only one defending Melanesians and the history of Melanesian people in the recent MSG meeting in Honiara.
“The MSG, I must repeat, the MSG, which I was a pioneer in setting up, was established for the protection of the identity of the Melanesian people, the promotion of their culture and defending their rights. Right to self determination, right to land and right to their resources.
“Now it appears other people are trying to use the MSG to drive their own agendas and I am sorry but I will insist that MSG is being bought by others.
“It is just like Jesus Christ who was bought for 30 pieces of silver. This is what is happening in the MSG. I am very upset about this and we need to correct this issue.
“Because if our friends in Fiji and Papua New Guinea have a different agenda, we need to sit down and talk very seriously about what is happening within the organisation.
‘It is being bought’
“And I am sorry but I will insist that MSG is being bought by others.”
Asked what transpired at the Honiara Summit, Natuman said that according to the Prime minister’s briefing on his return there were some misunderstandings on what happened in the Officials’ Meeting and the Foreign Ministers meeting.
“What happened was that they presented to the Summit Leaders something which apparently was not discussed at the officers level so this was the problem,” he explained.
“The issue of membership was supposed to be presented to the Leaders.
“Instead, they presented the leaders with a list of criteria for membership.
“This criteria was whether or not organisations or liberation movements should be considered for full membership.
“Finally, our prime minister was the only one talking in support of West Papua membership, the Solomon Islands Prime Minister couldn’t say very much because he is the chairman.”
New Caledonia contrast
On the issue of New Caledonia, Natuman said: “People are now saying we should not be interfering with Indonesia’s sovereignty. But what about New Caledonia? France has held onto New Caledonia.
“In the 1990s, we insisted that New Caledonia was a colonial possession of France, therefore we have the right to intervene .
“And we intervened. Firstly, we asked the people of New Caledonia to form an umbrella grouping, or political parties to support their cause. So they established the FLNKS at Vanuatu’s request.
“Through that means we [have] promoted their issues to the Forum and eventually they were listed in the UN’s listing of colonial territories.
“We have to assist them to get independence, same as [with] West Papua.
“West Papua was forcibly annexed by Indonesia and brutally overthrown. They were in the process of getting their independence in the early 1960s.
“West Papua is very rich in resources, gold, copper and forests thus a lot of Western capitalists were interested in that.
‘We must interfere’
“Now they say we cannot interfere. No, we must interfere. Melanesians are being killed by Asians, we have to interfere.”
The Deputy Prime Minister was part of the panel in yesterday’s 96Buzz FM’s Coffee and Controversy show at the Lava Lounge, which also featured Glen Craig, from Pacific Advisory, and Job Dalesa, who is on the West Papua Reunification Committee.
When asked his opinion on whether MSG has “lost its way” as implied by the DPM, Dalsesa replied: ”I certainly think so, West Papua has a lot of enemies. A lot of people are fighting over this area because of its resources, and by fighting you can do a lot of things, including buying another country and I think this is what they are doing.
“The divide-and-rule tactic is a common tactic that has been used for a long time.”
Yesterday’s show revolved around foreign policy, MSG and the South China Sea dispute.
Jane Joshua is a journalist with the Vanuatu Daily Post.
The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Special Leaders’ Summit in Honiara concluded yesterday with the reaching of a number of key decisions on issues of interest to the Melanesian sub-regional bloc.
The meeting was chaired by the Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Hon Manasseh Sogavare and leaders in attendance included Prime Minister, Hon Frank Bainimarama of Fiji, Prime Minister, Hon Charlot Salwai of the Republic of Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister, Hon Rimbink Pato and Spokesman of New Caledonia’s Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS), Mr Victor Tutugoro.
The key decisions reached were based on issues of discussion were submitted by the MSG pre-summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (FMM) also held in Honiara one day ahead of the Leaders’ Summit and they are as follows:
Approval of the appointment of the former Fiji diplomat, Ambassador Amena Yauvoli as Director General of the MSG Secretariat;
Approval in principle the establishment of the Police Ministers’ Meeting, noting the need for further consultation by some members;
Directing of the MSG Secretariat to expand the consultation process on the MSG Humanitarian and Emergency Response Coordinating Centre (HERCC) and identify cost implications of consultations on the HERCC and also the Sub-Committee on Security to meet and formulate the HERCC Regional Response Strategy and Action Plan;
Deferral of the consideration of application for full MSG membership by the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) until membership criteria and guidelines are further developed by the Sub-Committee on Legal and Institutional issues, considering fundamental principles, political aspirations and principles of international law and to be completed before end of September 2016;
Approval of the dissolution of the Melanesian Solutions Limited (MSL), the business arm of MSG;
Tasking of the Interim MSL Board to reimburse the shareholders’ contribution in consultation with the MSG Secretariat;
Tasking of the MSG Secretariat to report back to the members on the actions undertaken;
Noting of an update by the FLNKS on behalf of the FLNKS and the New Caledonian Government regarding the Melanesian Games and regretfully informed members of their inability to host the Games in October 2016;
Thanking of the MSG FMM Chair, Hon Milner Tozaka, Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Solomon Islands of the Report of the FMM that was held on 13th July 2016 at the Heritage Park Hotel in Honiara, Solomon Islands. The Leaders did not reach consensus and directed the Sub-Committee on Legal and Institutional Issues to undertake further review on the Revised Application Procedures, Criteria and Participatory Rights and Obligations of an Observer and an Associate Member to the MSG appended as Annex I and the New Membership Guidelines for Full Membership to the MSG appended Annex II;
Agreeing on the Trade Ministers’ Meeting Report of May 2016 as tabled by the TMM Chair, Hon Milner Tozaka, Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Solomon Islands. They congratulated Hon Tozaka and the MSG Trade Ministers for their meeting outcome in concluding negotiations on the new MSG Trade Agreement;
Agreeing to fulfill respective national processes in member countries before signing the MSG Free Trade Agreement; and
Agreeing that they meet in Port Vila, Vanuatu before end of September 2016.
The two-day Leaders’ summit programme was compounded into a one-day event, as Prime Minister Bainimarama had to return to Fiji early to attend a national event requiring his presence.
Disagreements remain among leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) on the issues of West Papua’s full membership even though an agreed communiqué stated that the deferral was a secretarial issue.
Since the agreed communiqué from the MSG special leaders’ summit in Honiara was announced publicly, leaders from the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Kanak National Socialist Liberation Front (FLNKS) have publicly disagreed with the outcome, saying the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) deserves full membership to the MSG.
In respective interviews with PACNEWS, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (Solomon Islands), Prime Minister Charlot Salwai (Vanuatu), Victor Tutugoro (FLNKS), said they support the aspirations for the self-determination of the people of West Papua and the full membership of ULMWP to the MSG.
Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Charlot Salwai, said the issue of membership, in particular the discussions of the membership of Melanesians of West Papua through the ULMWP as a full Member into the Melanesian family is a long time cry by Melanesians around the world including my country.
“Admitting ULMWP or Melanesians into the MSG should be the same basis for admitting the Kanaky through the FLNKS. Vanuatu has always believed that other Melanesians are ready to be admitted into the MSG family,”
said Prime Minister Salwai.
He said Vanuatu is adamant that being Melanesians they should not be subject to any form of criteria.
“We want meaningful dialogue and we can only do this when we are together. Vanuatu therefore gravely regrets the deferral of the admission of ULMWP on the matter of criteria, a clear sign that officials and the secretariat fell short in carrying out their duties consistent with the fundamental founding principles of this eminent organisation for Melanesians.”
FLNKS Spokesperson, Victor Tutugoro, shared similar sentiments, saying that all Melanesians deserved similar treatment at the MSG and as leaders there is a responsibility to protect and give voice to Melanesians in West Papua.
Tutugoro said he was not pleased with the deferral, stressing that there is a great need to support ULMWP’s political recognition at the MSG, thus, it would strengthen its political aspirations at the international level such as the UN.
“We Kanaky people were granted membership in a similar struggle to our brothers and sisters in West Papua and we feel that the same should be given to West Papuans as they are rightfully Melanesians and they need our Melanesian leaders support.”
Meanwhile, Fiji’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, while speaking on behalf of the Fiji government said Fiji respects the sovereignty of the people and government of Indonesia.
“We as the MSG must always respect the sovereignty of all member or associated countries of the MSG. To do otherwise would undermine the premise of the MSG. Because only through respect of sovereignty and commitment to dialogue can we reach mutual understanding,” said Ratu Inoke.
Melanesian leaders, meeting in Honiara, have deferred a decision on whether West Papua can gain full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group until a special meeting in Vanuatu in September
The postponement came despite a strong push by Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, which is chairing the MSG at the moment and sponsored the West Papuan application.
Word from the MSG meeting was that negotiations were very delicate, with Fiji and PNG threatening to pull out unless the decision was put off.
However, spokesman for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Benny Wenda, says he’s confident West Papua will be given full membership because the leaders of Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia are behind the move. Richard Ewart
EMTV – rliosi – The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) is considering a full membership application by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.
