Vanuatu’s Libyans risky gesture?

Press, 16 July 1987, Page 21

Vanuatu’s Libyans risky gesture?

TOM LANSNER,

left, reports from Port Vila:

Whether Libyan diplomat Taher Marwan muttered: “I shall return,” as he flew out of Vanuata’s capital, Port Vila, late last month is not certain. After a twomonth stay, Marwan and another Libyan envoy had little to show publicly for their time ,in the South Pacific. Their aim was to open the first Libyan People’s Bureau in the region; they spent most of their time maintaining a very low profile at a lagoonside tourist resort. But Marwan or another of Colonel Gaddafi’s official representatives may soon be back. The Prime Minister, Father Walter Linl, says a final decision is now being made on the opening of a Libyan mission. He is only waiting to consider whatever evidence Australia might offer to back allegations of Gaddafi-spon-sored weapons trafficking through Vanuatu. Once he finds “whether there are proofs that Libyans have been smuggling arms to Vanuatu, then we decide whether we open the People’s Bureau, or we indefinitely stop its opening,” Father Lini said in an interview at his residence here.

In what appeared to be a carefully orchestrated series of official leaks in April and,May, Australian media quoted unnamed intelligence sources in Canberra as saying that Libya is setting Up a programme of subversion in the South Pacific. Vanuatu, already known for its

anti-nuclear and anti-colonial foreign policy, would be the alleged lynchpin. ’ Press reports painted a grim picture of goings-on among these lush green islands which have a population of only 135,000 people, mostly subsistence farmers. Tourists attracted by the superb scuba diving and picture .postcard beaches suddenly became scared. Investors moving money into an equally idyllic tax haven began having second thoughts. Being tarred with the Libyan brush is already having a serious impact: “I think it has harmed our finance centre, and it has harmed our tourist industry. We do not continue as a country because of Gaddafi,” says Father Linl. Vanuatu is not full of Cubans; nor is it full of Libyans — or Russians — as some media have been able to portray to the

average man in the street, he says. There has been some Libyan contact, though. About a dozen workers of the ruling Vanua’aku party travelled to Tripoli for some form of security training last year. Talks on various aid packages from the Gaddafi regime have discussed projects, but as yet have produced nothing but bad publicity for Vanuatu. Nearly all the country’s aid, trade and tourism comes from western nations. Special Branch detectives trained in Australia protect the Prime Minister. A New Zealand Army captain supervises the paramilitary Vanuatu Mobile Force (V.M.F.) in civil works. A Fijian bandmaster trained in London daily leads practice for the V.M.F.’s 29member brass band. On the Queen’s Birthday last month, the red-coated bandsmen performed a reasonable rendition of “God Save the Queen” for a mostly

expatriate crowd gathered on the lawn of the British High Commissioner’s residence. The prime opportunity could come from deteriorating conditions in New Caledonia, the French-held island colony only about six hours in a fast boat from Vanuatu’s southernmost islands. Should New Caledonian violence erupt, Vanuatu’s leaders will have to decide if their unflinching political support of their fellow Melanesians, the Kanaks, should be expanded to include means for an armed struggle. Diplomats do not under-esti-mate the potential for Libyan or Soviet mischief in the. area, even if reports until now are considerably overblown. Recent Western pressure on Vanuatu may prove counterproductive in a nation still very sensitive regarding an independence achieved only seven years ago. Accepting a Libyan People’s Bureau may be a gesture, however economically dangerous, but Vanuatu feels compelled to make it, if only to prove that independence is genuine. — Copyright London Observer Service.