Evans’ disappointing Pacific tour ends

Press, 25 July 1989, Page 8

Evans’ disappointing Pacific tour ends

NZPA-AAP Brisbane The Australian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister, Senator Gareth Evans, returned from a 10-day Pacific tour yesterday disappointed at not meeting two key regional leaders.

On Thursday, the Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister, Solomon Mamaloni, called off scheduled talks in Honiara for no apparent reason.

On Sunday night Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Walter Lini, cancelled a meeting and dinner date at the last minute with aides claiming he was ill. Father Lini, aged 46, suffered a major stroke in 1986 which has left him partially paralysed and has raised serious doubts about his health.

On Saturday, Father Lini’s political rival,

Barak Sope, who was jailed and freed earlier this year over his failed attempt to oust the Prime Minister last Christmas, also did not show up for a meeting with Mr Evans, without giving a reason. Speaking to reporters travelling with him on a V.I.P. R.A.A.F. BAC 111 jet, Mr Evans said he was disappointed at not seeing Mr Lirii. Earlier Mr Evans played down the effect of Mr Mamaloni’s current snub, saying it had not been taken as a slight against him or Australia.

The Solomon Islands leader had also refused to see Britain’s Junior Foreign Minister, Lord Glenarthur, who passed through Honiara several days earlier. Members of the Solo-

mon Islands’ Cabinet have also complained of the Prime Minister’s inaccessibility.

The tour was Mr Evans’ second Pacific swing since taking over the Foreign Affairs portfolio last September. During this trip he became the highest ranking overseas visitor to the remote Federated States of Micronesia where he announced the establishment of an Australian Embassy. Covering almost 30,000 km, the trip was marred on Friday when his R.A.A.F. plane lost power in one engine, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Honiara. A change of aircraft meant he had to take 24 hours off his original plans for Vanuatu.