February 25, 2009
SEA TURTLE SLUMP FLOODS POVERTY BORDERS AS ELEPHANTS PLAGUE CROPS AND DIVERSE ANTS DROWN RATS
Hundreds of dead turtles were found washed ashore along the coastal lines
from Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar to St Martin’s island with bruises all over
their bodies.
A herd of 70 to 75 elephants of the Dalma forest have strayed into five
villages of West Midnapur district and damaged large tracts of crops and
destroyed several houses.
The World Bank warned that up to 53 million more people around the world
could fall into poverty in 2009 as a result of the global economic slump,
and up to 400,000 more children could die each year as a result of rising
infant mortality. The statistics highlight the worldwide character of the
social catastrophe being caused by the deepening crisis.
Armies of ants from Solomon Islands have invaded Papua New Guinea and are
threatening to wipe out the economy in at least one part of the country. A
report from Bougainville says the ants from across the border in the
Solomon Islands are destructive to plants and human beings.
Tonga’s Government has elected to renew emergency powers in parts of capital city.
The acting chief secretary and the secretary to the cabinet, confirmed that the Public
Safety and Public Security Regulations had been extended. The regulations were
renewed based upon the recommendation by the Minister of Police.
More than 700 people in Papua New Guinea’s Western Highlands province have
been left homeless after a river burst its banks following weeks of heavy
rain.
Over 400 female dead turtles have floated ashore over the last two weeks
alone, locals claimed.
A District Forest Officer said the pachyderms damaged
paddy and sugarcane in about 45 hectres in Tarrui, Gopalbar, Pundra, Sinda,
Mohanpur villages. They also destroyed five mud houses.
The rescuers recovered at least 27 bodies and over 10 people still remained
missing as a passenger launch capsized in the country’s southern Barisal
district. The incident took place in Kirtonkhola River when a sand-laden
cargo ship SM-Selim hit the Mehendiganj-bound launch ML-Happy from Barisal,
with over 100 passengers on board, locals and survivors said.
In Vanuatu, a volcanic archipelago in the South Pacific, root and tuber
crops ensure the subsistence and self-sufficiency of the islands’
inhabitants. Be they taro (Colocasia esculenta) or the greater yam
Dioscorea alata, which are traditional crops introduced by the first
sailors to have travelled to the islands some 3500 years ago, or other
plants that have been grown for some time or were introduced more recently,
root and tuber crops, which are propagated vegetatively, replanted and
propagated by cuttings, are the mainstay of the Melanesian diet. However,
it is the maintenance of the diversity of these plants that lies behind the
food security strategy adopted by the islands’ inhabitants. Melanesian
gardens are a prime example of this: by mixing crops, they provide
protection against pathogens, ensure better use of soils and sunlight, make
certain plants more drought-resistant, allow harvests to be spread over
time, and provide a more varied diet.
“I don’t think the government has understood the gravity of the crisis or
figured out how to tackle such an unprecedented situation.” A British
rodent ecologist — in Bangladesh studying the impact of the rat
infestation — said the rodent population was doubling in size every three
weeks. This means, of course, they must spread into new areas in search of
food. “In addition to destroying nearly all field crops in the region, the
rats get into people’s houses, eating stored food and damaging all sorts of
personal possessions and biting people while they sleep.”
The ants are believed to have transferred during the Bougainville crisis
when there was no quarantine service. The ants from Solomon Islands are
attacking and killing the local PNG ants, vegetables and cash crops.
The World Bank released its forecast to coincide with the Group of Seven
(G7) summit of finance ministers and central bank governors in Rome.
Anti-poverty organisations from the UN Millennium Campaign joined the bank
in lobbying for the establishment of a “Vulnerability Fund” in which each
developed country would devote 0.7 percent of its stimulus package to aid
impoverished “developing” countries.
The body of a woman named Dipti Dey, 30, was first recovered shortly after
the disastrous ferry accident. Later, bodies of 26 other launch passengers
were retrieved from inside the sunken launch after it was salvaged, raising
the death toll to 27, officials confirmed. The Prime Minister has
condoled the death of people and asked the officials to take necessary
steps for treatment of survivors.
The root and tuber species grown in Vanuatu were inventoried in ten
villages representative of the communities in the archipelago. Five
primarily grow taro, the other five yam, for both cultural and climatic
reasons. With more than 1000 varieties of thirteen species, the inventory
confirmed the varietal diversity of the crops grown. The archipelago’s
agro-biodiversity comprises three types of plants: plants that arrived
naturally, for instance on the wind, those imported by the first immigrants
– taro and greater yam in this case – and those introduced recently, also
by man, in particular cassava.
“The whole region has been affected by localised famine, forcing people to
depend on food aid. Food shortages will be a permanent feature here for
many years. We have captured 2,000 big rats from one hectare (2.47 acres)
of land. I can tell you the situation is worsening as rats are invading new
territories.” The WFP will begin a 2.6-million-dollar programme to help the
thousands of people who have lost their livelihoods because of the rats.
Even this utterly inadequate proposal received short shrift from the G7
ministers. In their final communiqué, a single one-sentence reference to
poorer economies said: “The G7 also stresses the need to support emerging
and developing countries’ access to credit and trade financing and resume
private capital flows, and is committed to explore urgently ways, including
through multilateral development banks, to enhance this support.” In other
words, the plight of hundreds of millions of destitute people must be left
in the hands of the same financial system and “private capital flows” that
have broken down, producing the worst global collapse since the 1930s.
A worried cocoa farmer on Buka Island, Aloysius Sammy, said the ants were
also attacking people and the victims were developing swollen bodies from
the ant bites. The ants were found in decaying biscuits and other food
items on cargo storage compartments on banana boats.
The bank’s new estimates for 2009 suggest that lower economic growth rates
will force 53 million more people to exist on less than $2 a day than was
expected prior to the downturn. This is on top of the 130-155 million
people pushed into poverty in 2008 because of soaring food and fuel prices.
An estimated 25 hectares of land was inundated when the Waghi River
flooded, swamping vegetable gardens, cash crops and livestock.
Experts said these turtles met their death as they travelled the stretch of
nearly 120km from Sonadia Island in Cox’s Bazar to St Martin’s island to
lay eggs on the shore.
Villagers alleged that the forest department, despite repeated requests,
did not take any steps to drive out the elephants. Four “Hulla Parties” had
been deployed to push the elephants to the Nayagram forest.
The bank’s extremely low benchmark for poverty—$2 a day—suggests that its
figures vastly underestimate the actual number of people around the world
who are barely able to feed, clothe and house themselves.
Under these renewed powers the police have the authority to stop and search
any vehicle without a warrant, as well as to seek evidence inside of any
vehicle. The powers also allow officers wider authority to make arrests.
These powers have been criticized by international rights organizations
for being an abuse of power and an attempt to frustrate the pro-democracy
movement.
Mr Sammy, who owns a two-hectare cocoa block, said half of his crop had been
destroyed by the ants. He said in south and central Bougainville, there
were no longer any signs of Papua New Guinea ants. Mr Sammy said he placed
some PNG tree ants on his cocoa trees and in just five seconds they were
attacked by Solomon ants.
The country’s National Disaster Centre committed $50,156 to the Western
Highlands provincial government to help more than 700 displaced villagers
in the Dei region, it said. The works department and two local construction
companies were partly to blame for failing to build adequate drainage.
The turtles get entangled in the fine fishing nets used indiscriminately by
fishing trawlers. The fishermen, instead of releasing them back to the sea,
beat them to death with sticks and dumped their bodies in the sea, experts
alleged.
Bangladesh’s remote Chittagong Hill Tracts region faces a serious risk of
prolonged famine and bubonic plague unless a ballooning rat population is
brought under control, experts say.
Preliminary estimates for 2009 to 2015 forecast that an average 200,000 to
400,000 more children a year, a total of 1.4 to 2.8 million over the
six-year period, may die if the crisis persists.
The emergency powers were originally put into place in November 2006 after
a riot broke out in the heart of the capital city of Nuku’alofa. The riot
began when a group broke away from a political reform rally and began
looting local businesses. Throughout the course of the riot 150
businesses, mostly owned by people of Chinese origins, were destroyed.
A disabled gunsmith has been arrested in Papua New Guinea for manufacturing
guns and ammunition in his backyard shed. The 39-year-old wheelchair bound
man known as “Harzem” was also reportedly found with numerous books on
Islam, terrorism and war.
Some fishermen from Sonadia, preferring anonymity, confirmed this saying
it’s a tedious task to release the turtles back into the waters.
Organisations working for the protection of sea turtles have recovered 62
carcasses from Cox’s bazaar area. They have expressed
concern about the environmental pollution caused by such large number of
carcasses.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) began distributing three million
dollars of emergency food supplies to some 120,000 people in the
southeastern tribal area bordering India and Myanmar, after the rat
population exploded.
This is a very serious problem and the Autonomous Bougainville Government,
especially the Department of Primary Industry (DPI) and Agriculture, should
do some serious research on how to get rid of these ants, Mr Sammy said.
With the absence of mining on Bougainville the economy was predominantly
agriculture-based, which meant cash crops like copra and cocoa were the
ones driving the economy. And without control, the Solomon Islands ants are
destroying cash crops, the farmer said.
In addition, millions of people already living in poverty “will be pushed
further below the poverty line,” according to the World Bank policy
note,”The Global Economic Crisis: Assessing Vulnerability with a Poverty
Lens.” The note states: “Almost all developed and developing countries are
suffering from the global economic crisis. While developed countries are
experiencing some of the sharpest contractions, households in developing
countries are much more vulnerable and likely to experience acute negative
consequences in the short- and long-term.”
People residing at Shortland borderline between Papua New Guinea and
Solomon Islands have raised grave concern over increased border crossing by
foreigners into Solomon Islands and vice versa. The people fear this might
lead to allowing terrorists to enter Solomon Islands illegally or drug
smuggling.
Most of the turtles found in this area are of the Olive Ridley, one of the
smallest species of sea turles. This species weighs between 10 to 20kg, 63
to 70cm length and 60 to 67cm in breadth.
Police made the arrest at Dami village in PNG’s West New Britain Province,
an island region in northern PNG, as part of an operation to reduce gun
proliferation. The area has been experiencing ongoing local clashes fuelled
by homemade weapons and firearms. Harzem is believed to be the main weapon
supplier in the tribal conflict.
The rats — some weighing as much as 1.5 kilogrammes (3.3 pounds) — feed
on bamboo forests in the hilly region. A Dhaka University zoology professor
recently visited the hill tracts and sounded the alarm over the
“devastating” impact of the year-long rat plague.
Almost 40 percent of 107 developing countries are “highly exposed” to the
poverty and hardship effects of the crisis and the remainder are
“moderately exposed,” according to the report. The bank warns that three
quarters of these countries will be unable to raise funds domestically or
internationally to finance job-creation, the delivery of basic
infrastructure and essential services—including health, education and core
public administration—and safety net programs for the vulnerable.
Borderline representatives appearing before the Committee alleged that
foreigners illegally entered Solomon Islands through Bougainville. Recent
past crossings happened because Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea did
not have borderline check points where Immigration, Customs and Quarantine
officials manned the posts.
The West New Britain Police Commander said Harzem was in police custody and
would appear in court as soon as possible. “I have given instructions to
fast track his case because of his condition,” he said. Police confiscated
several weapons and ammunition and are continuing their operation in a
neighbouring areas.
The root and tuber crop panel of ten villages in Vanuatu comprises more
than 1000 varieties of thirteen species. the primary aim of farming in this
volcanic archipelago in the South Pacific is to ensure food
self-sufficiency.
The threats of a famine-fuelled conflict are real as the rats are
destroying everything in the hills. Adding to the urgency of the situation,
authorities must act fast to avoid an outbreak of deadly bubonic plague.
The statistics provide only a pale outline of the impoverishment,
malnutrition and misery caused by the global recession. These outcomes are
an indictment of the anarchy of the private profit system. First, the
speculative escalation of food and fuel prices of 2007-08 threw up to 155
million people into poverty; and now the financial crash is threatening
many millions more. These forecasts make a mockery of the United Nation’s
Millennium Development Goals, which set targets to overcome poverty by
2015.
Solomon Islands and PNG have cross-border entries like a traditional
practice before, but people from other countries who came with yachts
abused this privilege. The Foreign Relations Committee also met with
people of Choiseul in Taro.
In most of the villages, notably those attached to their traditions,
ancestral crops are predominant. However, in villages subject to severe
environmental constraints (acid rain or ash showers due to active
volcanoes, cyclones, etc), there are more either local or newly introduced
crops. These crops bolster food security by making the cropping systems
more resilient. In other Pacific archipelagos, such as New Caledonia and
the Solomon Islands, the introduction by the Europeans of new root and
tuber species, combined with the arrival of a market economy, has totally
disrupted the existing systems. Ancestral species have disappeared and food
crop production has become uniform, making the production systems more
fragile and reducing the quality of the local diet. Conversely, in Vanuatu,
while the local populations are increasingly accepting and growing new
plants, those plants have had to fit into the existing agro-biodiverse
systems without adversely affecting the other species grown. In the most
fragile zones, they even help to overcome the shortages resulting from the
seasonal nature of traditional crops. The food production strategy in
Vanuatu is not yet under threat, as culturally speaking, owners set great
store by their Melanesian gardens, which is continuing to maintain their
characteristic agro-biodiversity, despite the growing role played by cash
crops grown for export.
“I have approached certain people in the DPI division and reported this
case but my case has fallen on deaf ears.” Mr Sammy also said when a border
post was set up, every boat whether traditional border crossers or not,
must still be quarantined and customs checks should be enforced. A lot of
ants have also been brought into Bougainville by plant hunters or
collectors, especially for flowers like roses and orchids from Solomon
Islands, which are regarded as some of the most beautiful and rare in the
world. Bougainvilleans are appealing to the Government to do something
before cash crops are wiped out in Bougainville.
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February 17, 2009
Health workers alarmed at pace of dengue in New Caledonia
Health authorities in New Caledonia say dengue fever is spreading at an
alarming rate, with over over 1,000 cases reported in the French Pacific
territory since the New Year.
In the first six weeks of this year, 1,027 dengue cases have been reported,
a figure close to the total number of cases recorded last year.
Health officials say they are particularly concerned that 546 of the 2009
caseload were reported in the past two weeks.
New Caledonia’s director of sanitary and social affairs, Jean Paul
Grangeon, says the situation is worrying.
“There is a serious outbreak of dengue in New Caledonia. We’ve got nearly
60 new cases a day now,” he said.
Most of the infections involve Type 4 dengue fever, which was last recorded
in New Caledonia 30 years ago, and against which most people have no
immunity.
The outbreak has also spread to neighbouring Pacific countries including
Fiji, Samoa, Palau, Kiribati, Vanuatu, American Samoa and the Cook Islands.
Health authorities say that as the weather gets cooler and milder, the
breeding rate of mosquitoes should slow, making it easier to bring the
epidemic under control.
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February 15, 2009
CLIMATE CHARMERS CANED MONSTER’S TAIL
Climate change is not only occurring, it is accelerating. Deforestation
accounts for almost 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. One idea is to reduce
this figure by giving forests a monetary value based on their capacity to
store carbon and thus reduce greenhouse gases. This may eventually lead to
developed countries paying developing ones to reduce emissions caused by
deforestation and forest degradation.
The snake charming ban has stripped 800,000 members of Bengal’s Bedia
community, who have worked as snake-charmers for generations, of their only
source of income, while an estimated 20,000 are serving jail terms for
defying the ban.
The world must do more to confront the largely unstudied and neglected
phenomenon of people-trafficking. So little is known about the problem,
that no estimate can be given of the number affected. There is lack of a
common understanding of what human trafficking is, and whom it affects.
For generations, the ethnic Muslim Rohingya have endured persecution by the
ruling junta of Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country. The plight of
the Rohingya, descendants of Arab traders from the 7th century, gained
international attention after five boatloads of haggard migrants were found
in the waters around Indonesia and the Andaman Islands.
The Tanzania Teachers’ Union is taking legal action after 19 primary school
teachers were given the cane. The teachers were caned by a police officer
in front of their pupils after an investigation into poor exam results at
three schools.
“Unless a mechanism is put into place that makes forests worth more alive
than dead, deforestation will continue until the world’s tropical forests
are completely destroyed. In the absence of large-scale incentives for
conservation, an enormous number of the world’s species of plants and
animals and the resource base of millions of indigenous peoples and forest
communities will ultimately go up in smoke.”
The Bedia community is nomadic and regards snake-charming as its
birthright. The ban has severely affected 100,000 families in West Bengal’s
Cooch Behar, Murshidabad and Malda districts.
The most commonly used term for the problem – “people-trafficking” – itself
emphasises the transaction aspects of the crime, rather than the day-to-day
experience of modern enslavement. And it suggests the trafficking
phenomenon is little understood in all its forms from child soldiering to
sweatshop labour, domestic servitude, and even entire villages in bondage.
But unlike the Kurds or the Palestinians, no one has championed the cause
of the Rohingya. Most countries, from Saudi Arabia to Malaysia, see them as
little more than a source of cheap labor for the dirtiest and most
dangerous jobs. “The Rohingya are probably the most friendless people in
the world. They just have no one advocating for them at all. Hardly any of
them have legal status anywhere in the world.”
The report blamed teachers for being late or not showing up for work and
not teaching the official syllabus. One of the caned teachers, Ativus
Leonard, 33, said he was now too ashamed to meet his pupils.
Political and financial support could be provided to indigenous peoples if
governments decide that local forestry practices contribute to storing
carbon. “If instituted in a manner consistent with indigenous interests,
reduced deforestation could help to protect the biodiversity of plants and
animals, help to secure indigenous lands and livelihoods, and provide for
the ongoing culture and community of indigenous and forest-dwelling
peoples.”
Now they have set up a union and campaign group to lobby for an exemption
from the ban and state support for retraining. They say that if the state
continues to deny them their traditional source of income it should fund
them to set up snake farms so they can earn a living.
Statistics suggest that sexual exploitation is the most common form of
human trafficking (at 79%, followed by forced labour at 18%). This itself
may be an “optical illusion”, because “sexual exploitation is highly
visible in cities or along highways while forced labour is hidden. We only
see the monster’s tail.”
There are an estimated 750,000 Rohingya living in Myanmar’s mountainous
northern state of Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh. Thousands flee every
year, trying to escape a life of abuse that was codified in 1982 with a law
that virtually bars them from becoming citizens. Myanmar’s military
government has repeatedly denied abusing the Rohingya, though Amnesty
International said the junta has described them as less than human. Rights
groups have documented widespread abuses, including forced labor, land
seizures and rape.
But indigenous peoples and other observers have also expressed concern
about possible negative impacts. If forests are given monetary value, many
fear that – where land tenure rights are unclear and decision-making
remains top-down – new conflicts could arise among indigenous and local
communities and between them and the state.
The union, the Bedia Federation of India, says if the government cannot
lift the ban on snake-charming shows, then it should help them start up
snake farms where they could use their expertise to develop anti-venenes.
“How many hundreds of thousands of victims are slaving away in sweat shops,
fields, mines, factories, or trapped in domestic servitude? Their numbers
will surely swell as the economic crisis deepens the pool of potential
victims and increases demand for cheap goods and services.”
“It was like living in hell,” said Mohamad Zagit, who left after soldiers
confiscated his family’s rice farm and then threw him in jail for praying
at a local mosque. The 23-year-old spoke from his hospital bed in Thailand,
where he had been detained after fleeing Myanmar.
“We have no rights,” said Muhamad Shafirullah, who was among 200 migrants
rescued by the Indonesian navy. He recalled how he was jailed in Myanmar,
his family’s land stolen and a cousin dragged into the jungle and shot
dead. “They rape and kill our women. We can’t practice our religion. We
aren’t allowed to travel from village to village … It’s almost
impossible, even, to get married or go to school.”
Mechanisms might exclude local populations from implementation and
benefit-sharing processes, and possibly even expel them from their own
territories: “The increased monetary value placed on standing forest
resources and new forest growth, opens the door for corruption in countries
where this is already rife in the forest sector. Centralized planning where
the national government creates plans, receives payments and disburses the
new funds only adds to the marginalisation of forest people.”
“Having lived with the reptiles since childhood, the snake-charmers know
only one vocation, that is handling snakes and holding public shows, but
strong measures adopted by police and forest department for the last decade
or so have put them in a difficult situation.”
Another little-understood aspect of human-trafficking is that female
offenders have a more prominent role in people-trafficking than in any
other crime, with women accounting for more than 60% of convictions in
Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Twice since the 1970s, waves of attacks by the military and Buddhist
villagers forced hundred of thousands of Rohingya to flee over the border
to Bangladesh, a Muslim country whose people speak a similar language. Many
have since been repatriated, but 200,000 still work there as illegal
migrants and another 28,000 live in squalid refugee camps.
These concerns are reinforced by the difficulties experienced by indigenous
peoples in accessing international climate change debates. Indigenous
peoples were shocked to see that references to their rights were removed.
He said hundreds of thousands of Bedia will protest in Calcutta at what
will be the world’s largest-ever gathering of snake-charmers.
Most countries’ conviction rates rarely exceed 1.5 per 100,000 people –
“below the level normally recorded for rare crimes… and proportionately
much lower than the estimated number of victims”.
Violence against Rohingya women is common, and they face the threat of
prison because of their illegal status. Thousands of Rohingya have taken to
the seas from Bangladesh in search of better jobs, but ended up drowning or
at the mercy of traffickers. For years, the Rohingya traveled to the Middle
East for work, with nearly a half million ending up in Saudi Arabia.
There is also growing concern that indigenous peoples and local communities
are “unlikely to benefit if: they do not own their lands; there is no
culture of free, prior and informed consent; their identities are not
recognised; or they have no space to participate in political processes.”
It is sick that we should even need to write a report about slavery in the
21st Century. “My 14 children rely on me. They have no safety, no food,
nothing,” said Mohamad Salim, a 35-year-old, bearded fisherman who also was
detained and hospitalized in Thailand and begged to be allowed to continue
onto Malaysia. “What will they eat? How will they live if I don’t find
work?” he said, his voice trembling.
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February 12, 2009
ANAGRAM WITCHCRAFT TORTURE ROBBERS DECLINE COCA-COLA
The government of Papua New Guinea must act now to end a rash of more than
50 killings related to allegations of sorcery, Amnesty International said.
It was a black day for the Nigerian Police Force as seven policemen met
their untimely deaths in three separate incidents as bandits went on the
rampage in Benin City, Edo state and in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The first
incident occurred along the Benin-Lagos road, with two policemen shot dead
while two others sustained gunshot injuries in a gun battle with armed
robbers.
Two rights commissions jointly called for the government to take steps to
halt torture in the country, including ratifying an international
convention against the practice.
Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd., Australia’s biggest soft-drink maker, increased
second-half profit 26 percent on higher soda sales and new drinks such as
Glaceau Vitamin Water.
The murder of a father and son in Ban village, a few kilometres from Mount
Hagen is the latest sorcery-related killing to come to light.
But the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), in charge of Zone 5, Benin
City, said that only one policeman died; however an eye-witness said that
two policemen were shot dead on the spot by the robbers who caught them
unawares.
“It has been 10 years since Indonesia adopted the Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [CAT]
but there has not yet been any significant progress,” said the National
Commissions on Human Rights, or Komnas HAM.
Net income rose to A$213.7 million ($140 million) in the six months ended
December from A$169.8 million a year earlier. The result was calculated by
subtracting first-half earnings from the A$385.6 million full-year profit
the Sydney-based company reported.
Local men shot dead 60-year old Plak Mel Doa and threw his body into a fire
whilst his son, Anis Dua, was dragged from his home and burnt alive. Local
people accused them of causing the death of a prominent member of the
community by sorcery.
His commission and the National Commissions on Violence Against Women, or
Komnas Perempuan, said in a joint statement that they were now waiting for
the government to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, or
OPCAT, because it represented a more effective way to prevent torture in
the country.
The robbers who were said to be armed with AK-47 rifles also escaped with
gunshot injuries, but it was learnt that the policemen who were on patrol
could not withstand the firepower of the armed robbers when they attacked
the patrol van.
Takeover talks with brewer Lion Nathan Ltd. ended, raising prices by 5
percent as record summer temperatures in southeastern Australia stoke
demand. New drinks in Australia and revamped packaging in Indonesia are
boosting sales and limiting the impact of a recession in New Zealand.
When dozens of people have been killed after literal witch hunts, it’s
clear that the government is not doing enough to protect its own citizens
and maintain the rule of law.
They were on patrol to the Benin-Lagos express road after they got a
distress call that robbers were operating. They exchanged fire with the
robbers, who escaped with bullet wounds. One of the men was shot dead while
others sustained injuries and are currently receiving treatment at an
undisclosed hospital.
The country’s many human rights violation cases are well known, especially
those involving torture in areas far from public view, such as prisons,
state detention centers and social rehabilitation centers.
The result highlighted the underlying defensiveness of Coca-Cola Amatil’s
business, which is further characterized by strong domestic performance.
All segments delivered profit growth, with Indonesia a stand out, rating
the stock “hold.”
The police and judicial authorities have to step in immediately before
another person faces this kind of vigilante violence.
But we are on the trail of the robbers because we know they will still be
around with the wounds. It is a sad day for us but we are happy that our
men put up a spirited fight and we must get all of them.
Torture mostly happens in closed areas, and it is hard to prove it.
Coca-Cola Amatil shares rose 1.6 percent to A$8.51 at the close in Sydney.
The company is 30 percent owned by Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., the world’s
biggest soft drink maker.
The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) is often unable to enforce
the law. For instance, after the killings, police reported they wanted to
visit the crime scene and confirm the men’s deaths, but heavily armed
locals prevented them from removing the bodies to hospital for autopsies.
Four police officers attached to the Ikpoba Hill Police Station were shot
dead when armed robbers attacked a bullion van along Ugoneki, Benin-Asaba
road, Benin City. Their rifles were also taken away by the dare-devil
robbers.
“We’re concentrating on torture of political detainees in some areas of
Papua [Province], such as Manokwari and Jayapura, and in Maluku. There are
a lot of political detainees in those areas, and torture is even more
intense against these types of detainees.”
Lion Nathan scrapped its A$7.5 billion offer after Coca-Cola Co., which has
the capacity to block the offer, ended talks on a deal. The offer valued
Amatil shares at A$10.21 each based on closing prices.
People often don’t trust the police or the judiciary and instead blame
events on supernatural causes and punish suspected sorcerers.
“Torture like physical and mental abuse, such as intimidation, have been
common practice in many prisons in Indonesia. It is difficult to control
unless the government pays more attention to this human rights violation.”
It was another case of a distress call, but the robbers laid an ambush for
them. We are in a mourning mood; we know that it is a syndicate. We must
get them. They are trying to get rifles to carry out other operations but
no matter what they do, we must get them.
“The price was unrealistically low. The CCA board was presented with a
proposal that was just not capable of being accepted.”
The Constabulary, the Public Prosecution Office and other relevant
authorities should step up efforts to curb vigilante violence and raise
awareness in communities about ways in which people can legitimately seek
justice.
CAT was an effective tool for responding to torture cases, while the OPCAT
was more of a preventive tool.
Meanwhile, the office of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG),
Zone 5, has described the day as a dark day for the police in the state.
Earnings before items totaled A$404.3 million, beating the A$400.9 million
average of ten analyst estimates. The company boosted its second-half
dividend to 22 cents from 20 cents earlier.
Amnesty International calls on the RPNGC to vigorously pursue
investigations of all cases and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to
justice.
It was learnt that the officers who were escorting a bullion van ran into
the robbers who attacked the bullion van with three vehicles, armed with
sophisticated weapons.
The government should list torture as a punishable crime in the Criminal
Code.
Earnings before interest and tax in Australia, where Coca- Cola Amatil gets
almost two-thirds of sales, rose 9.1 percent to A$269.3 million in the
second half after adding Vitamin Water and relaunching its Mother energy
drink.
There has been an increase in reports of sorcery related killings in Papua
New Guinea. A village court, comprising church pastors and local officials,
found a 40 year old man from a village in Unggai-Bena district in the
Eastern Highland province guilty of sorcery and sentenced him to death. A
group of local men then hacked him to death with bush knives. A group of
men stripped a woman naked, gagged and burned her alive at Kerebug rubbish
dump in Mount Hagen after she was suspected of practising witchcraft.
“There are many kinds of torture that the commissions should explain
further, such as ethnic cleansing, the cleansing of anti-social
individuals, military terror and discrimination against minority religions.
There is a lot of torture at several detention centers and prisons. But we
have no exact number regarding the cases. We only investigate some of the
important cases.”
“Our men are on the red alert now and we are advising everybody to be
careful. Some people are on a mission but we must stop them. You will
recall that some police officers were shot early this morning. One died
while others were hospitalized. This makes it five police officers to be
killed in one day. That is sad for us but we must get the killers no matter
where they run to.”
The company’s pre-mixed spirit drinks, which include Australian rights to
Jim Beam & Cola, had a “material decline” in sales as higher government
taxes pushed the retail price up more than 20 percent. Coca-Cola Amatil’s
nearest soda rival in Australia is Cadbury Schweppes Plc., the domestic
bottler of Pepsi. Asahi Breweries Ltd., Japan’s top-selling beer maker,
agreed to buy Schweppes in Australia. The purchase is subject to a
so-called right of negotiation granted to Coca-Cola Co., which gives the
world’s biggest soft-drink maker rights to negotiate a purchase of the
unit.
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