Three fishermen from Kiribati who went missing at sea for nearly five weeks
\nhave been found alive on an island in Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n
Some 50 people were killed when Bangladesh paramilitary troops fought among
\nthemselves during a mutiny in their headquarters over a pay dispute.
\n“Nearly 50 people have been killed in sporadic fighting in the headquarters
\nof Bangladesh Rifles (BDR).”<\/p>\n
The outlook on Fiji’s long-term sovereign credit rating has been revised
\ndown from stable to negative by the international rating agency Standard
\nand Poors. The sovereign credit rating indicates the level of risk in
\ninvesting in a specific country, and takes political risks into account.<\/p>\n
Papua New Guinea has created a nearly 190,000-acre preserve to protect tree
\nkangaroos and other endangered species, after years of criticism for
\nturning a blind eye to environmental issues. The Pacific island nation,
\nwhere illegal logging is rampant, has recently tried to overhaul its image
\nin the conservation community, taking the lead on such issues as getting
\ntropical forest protections included in a U.N. climate pact.<\/p>\n
A team of traditional indigenous healers and regional health authorities
\nfrom the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) trekked out to visit three
\nrural Miskito communities along the R\u00edo Coco to investigate reports of an
\noutbreak of a mysterious collective hysteria, known as grisi siknis, or
\ncrazy sickness.<\/p>\n
The fishermen were taken adrift by rough seas until they were discovered by
\nPapua New Guinea villagers. Authorities in Kiribati thought they drowned,
\nbut the men survived on fish and sea water for weeks.<\/p>\n
Rank and file soldiers in the Bangladeshi military has staged a nationwide
\ninsurrection. The mutineers seized control of 12 military bases across the
\nnation, as officers and military commanders were unable to halt the mutiny.
\nThe nation\u2019s new prime minister warned the mutineers they faced stiff
\npunishment if they continued their violent insurrection and ordered heavy
\nartillery and armored divisions to move against them.<\/p>\n
Fiji’s sovereign credit rating remains at B. Standard and Poors has
\ndowngraded the outlook for the rating’s future because of what it describes
\nas a “quite dramatic fall in Fiji’s international reserves” -from $US618
\nmillion at the end of 2007 to $431 million in December 2008.<\/p>\n
The plan for a conservation area stemmed from an unusual agreement between
\nthe government and 35 indigenous communities to protect the 187,800 acres
\nof remote tropical forest, coastal reefs and mountains on the island of New
\nGuinea. Leaders representing the 10,000 villagers living in the YUS
\nConservation Area, named for the Yopno, Uruwa and Som rivers that run
\nthrough it, have agreed to prohibit hunting, and development such as
\nlogging and mining. In exchange, US conservation agencies will provide as
\nmuch as $2 million for health and education programs.<\/p>\n
The regional health coordinator for the RAAN, said that 34 people have
\nreportedly fallen ill with grisi siknis in the river community of Santa Fe,
\nseven people in the nearby community of Esperanza and two in the
\nneighboring community of San Carlos. The outbreak of grisi siknis, which
\nhas no scientific explanation, is the largest case of collective hysteria
\nsince a massive outbreak in the RAAN community of Rait\u00ed in 2003.<\/p>\n
Villagers in PNG’s New Ireland province found the men and took them to a
\nmedical centre run by the Lihir Gold Mine for treatment. A docotor says the
\nmen were treated and are well. “Medically-wise they’ll need to be observed
\n24 hours at least and they are starting to eat well.”<\/p>\n
The mutineers did lay down their arms, after 18 members of the government,
\nincluding ministers of parliament, went to meet with the leaders of the
\nuprising, putting their own lives at risk. The official death toll stands
\nat 11, with reports of up to 100 civilians and military personnel believed
\ndead. Corruption is thought to have been the cause that spurred the rebels
\nto outrage sufficient for mutiny.<\/p>\n
Standard and Poor’s Sovereign Ratings Analyst, said weak growth prospects
\nespecially in tourism, sugar and garments also contributed to Fiji’s
\ndowngraded outlook. The outlook on Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands,
\nremains unchanged. At this stage, Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands have
\nweathered the financial crisis better than many countries, but warns they
\nremain vulnerable to low commodity prices and tourist numbers.<\/p>\n
By creating the country’s first national conservation area, the PNG
\ngovernment and people have established a much-needed safe zone for the
\nirreplaceable biodiversity it contains. Other researchers said the
\nagreement would go a long way toward ensuring the survival of the
\nMatschie’s tree kangaroo, a leaf-eating mammal the size of a raccoon that
\nlooks like a cross between “a bear, kangaroo, koala and monkey.”<\/p>\n
Though doctors, anthropologists and sociologists have all studied previous
\ncases, no one has been able to explain the phenomena. Traditional healers
\nand witches have explained the mysterious illness with different theories
\nranging from a curse to incomplete witchcraft.<\/p>\n
“They’ve lost some weight obviously. But otherwise they’re in very good
\ncondition.” The fishermen need a week to fully recover before they could be
\nre-united with their families back in Kiribati.<\/p>\n
The mutineers were from the paramilitary border guard units knows as the
\nRifles. Corruption in Bangladesh is rampant, and the impoverished nation of
\n144 million is listed 147th out of 180 nations on the corruption index kept
\nby Transparency International, a watchdog group. The Rifles have
\nexperienced problems with pay and equipment for years, reportedly due to
\ncorruption.<\/p>\n
The leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) is the world’s oldest and largest
\nturtle. Having witnessed the extinction of the dinosaur and the development
\nof mankind, this magnificent sea creature is now facing extinction in our
\nPacific Ocean.<\/p>\n
The strange illness apparently affects young people more than old, putting
\npeople in a strange trance and apparently giving them super-human strength.
\nA 15-year-old girl with siknis can overpower six or seven men. The men
\ncan’t detain her, and have to tie her up in bed sheets.<\/p>\n
“They are completely adapted to living in the rain forest and trees, which
\nis not what you think of when you think of kangaroos.” This kangaroo is
\nfound only on the island but is related to tree kangaroos found in
\nAustralia. Other rare species in the area include the long-beaked echidna
\n— an egg-laying mammal that looks a bit like a hedgehog — and the Huon
\nAstrapia, a bird of paradise.<\/p>\n
Kenya police ‘ran death squads’and have a reputation for brutality. A UN
\ninvestigator has called for the removal of Kenya’s police commissioner and
\nattorney general over a wave of alleged extrajudicial killings. “Kenyan
\npolice are a law unto themselves. They kill often, with impunity.”<\/p>\n
A leatherback turtle nesting beach survey was conducted on Bougainville
\nIsland in Papua New Guinea. The survey recorded 46 leatherback turtle nests
\nand one false crawl. Of the 46 nesting sites found along the beaches of
\nBougainville, there were also 12 unidentified turtle nests, which were
\ndetermined to belong to green and hawksbill species.<\/p>\n
Among the Rifles mutineers\u2019 demands was the right to participate in UN
\npeacekeeping operations, which reportedly pay significantly more than
\nregular operations. The stand down and release of dozens of hostages
\nfollowed a warning today by Prime Minister Sheik Hasina that the
\nparamilitary Bangladesh Rifles must return to the barracks and surrender
\ntheir weapons or face unspecified consequences.<\/p>\n
Until now, their habitat was under significant threat. Nearly a quarter of Papua New Guinea’s
\nrain forest has been damaged or destroyed between 1972 and 2002 — mostly
\ndue to illegal logging to extract timber that is made into flooring and
\nfurniture in Chinese factories and sold in the United States and Europe.
\nBut many of Papua New Guinea’s forests, including the new reserve, are
\nstill untouched, and researchers have hope the unique arrangement will find
\nsuccess.<\/p>\n
The illness doesn’t necessarily make people violent, but it does make them
\nhysterical. Many of the affected will take off running madly, and other
\nvillagers can’t stop them. Sometimes, however, grisi siknis can turn
\nviolent. In the case of Rait\u00ed in 2003, some of the affected people ran
\naround town with machetes trying to cut others.<\/p>\n
Security forces went on a killing spree against rebel militias in Mt Elgon
\nin western Kenya, and against some 500 suspected Mungiki members. The
\nattorney general was “the embodiment in Kenya of the phenomenon of
\nimpunity. There is overwhelming testimony that there exists in Kenya a
\nsystematic, widespread and well-planned strategy to execute individuals,
\ncarried out by the police.”<\/p>\n
Some had feared the mutiny could spread to the regular military or
\nrepresent the beginnings of a politically motivated coup d\u2019\u00e9tat, and that
\nPM Hasina\u2019s government could be in jeopardy if the rebellion was not
\nswiftly put down. There will be angry calls for punishment of the
\ninsurgents, but there will likely also be angry calls for tough action to
\ncombat corruption, perceived to be pervasive in politics and public life.
\nMore mass graves have been found at a military base where soldiers staged a
\nmutiny this week. At least 100 people are reported to have been killed,
\nmostly army officers.<\/p>\n
This survey also served to verify nesting sites recorded during an aerial
\nsurvey. Bouganville lies between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands,
\nwith all three having nesting populations of the leatherback turtle. The
\nresearchers traveled around Bouganville by dinghy interviewing, surveying
\nand sharing turtle awareness with the local communities as well as
\nmeasuring turtle nests along the shore. “There was a high density – close
\nto 43% of all the nests were in a 5.4 km stretch of beach between the
\nvillages of Papanoa and Naboi. This would be the most likely spot for
\nconservation work along with some educational outreach about turtles, as
\nthese nests will likely be harvested for eggs.” Communities in Bouganville
\nfrequently harvest the eggs of the turtles for food.<\/p>\n
Unlike government-run parks that often exist in name only in many parts of
\nAsia, the land committed for the project is all owned by local clans.
\nConservationists are counting on the locals to bring a unique commitment to
\nprotecting their homes. The reserve is also a good first step toward
\nreducing global emissions: the trees in the reserve absorb 13 million tons
\nof carbon each year while deforestation globally represents about 20
\npercent of carbon emissions.<\/p>\n
The mysterious illness has existed in the indigenous communities since the
\n1960s, but had disappeared for years until the 2003 outbreak. The illness
\napparently only affects indigenous Miskito and Mayagna populations. In
\n2004, the illness was cured by a local healer who treated it with herbs and
\nother natural medicines. The three local healers sent to the communities
\nwill employ the same techniques.<\/p>\n
Some 1,500 people died in the violence after the December 2007 poll. There
\nwere horrifying witness accounts of how young men and defenceless women
\nwere executed by Kenyan police, apparently for being in the wrong place at
\nthe wrong time.<\/p>\n
The country has suffered several military coups since independence in 1971.
\nThe army maintains this week\u2019s mutiny by border guards was over pay and
\nconditions and was not politically motivated.<\/p>\n
“For villagers this has been part of their diet for a long time, their
\ncultural resource and part of their biodiversity. Like fisheries, you want
\nto manage it well, you don’t want to catch all your fish or you will have
\nno more in the future, just like turtles. We need to help conserve them or
\nthey will disappear as a species on earth. The leatherback turtle
\npopulation in the Western Pacific has declined by 95 per cent in the last
\n30 years.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully, other tropical forest nations will follow this example of
\nsimultaneously combating climate change and conserving the ecosystems on
\nwhich people depend.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three fishermen from Kiribati who went missing at sea for nearly five weeks have been found alive on an island in Papua New Guinea. Some 50 people were killed when Bangladesh paramilitary troops fought among themselves during a mutiny in their headquarters over a pay dispute. “Nearly 50 people have been killed in sporadic fighting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[50,58,8,60,12,19,20,23,26,30,31,32,35,47],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}