At the conclusion of its 135th synod, the Maohi Protestant church called on France to abrogate its nuclear compensation law, saying it fails to compensate the victims of the weapons tests.

In its statement, the church called for the UN to be allowed to send experts to French Polynesia to study the contamination which it says is slowly killing people. Read more

The comment comes just hours after confirmation that Fritch will join a Pacific Islands Forum delegation to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican next month. The forum coincides with the COP23 climate change conference in Germany.

The pro-independence opposition party, Tavini Huiraatira, said it wondered whether it was the same Édouard Fritch who, for 30 years, defended the French nuclear weapons tests as being clean.

It also pointed out that Fritch castigated the Tavini politician Antony Geros for hanging a crucifix on the territorial assembly wall in 2004.

It added that Fritch has been urging a separation of the state from the church.

Fritch is the former son-in-law of the veteran French Polynesia politician and five-times president 86-year-old Gaston Flosse.

He was the second in command in Flosse's pro-France Tahoeraa Huiraatira party and his heir-apparent. But the two have subsequently fallen out.

Fritch's supporters went on to form a new party, the Tapura Huiraatira. Flosse's party has since lost more than half its deputies to it.

Fritch became president of French Polynesia in September 2014 after his predecessor Flosse was forced to resign over a conviction for corruption.

Flosse had stepped aside after failing to secure a pardon from President Francois Hollande over the conviction which was upheld by France's highest court in August 2014.

Flosse was convicted for running a vast network of phantom jobs to support his political party in one of the biggest cases of its kind in French legal history.

He was sentenced to a four-year suspended jail term, a large fine, and banned from public office for three years.

He recently announced he intends to stand in the 2018 elections

• RNZ
• BBC
• RNZ
• RNZ
• Wikipedia
• Image: BBC

PCC acting general secretary and Tahiti native, Reverend Francois Pihaate, told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program that it was time Pacific Island Forum Leaders showed their support for the move.

When the UN was founded in 1945, one of its first initiatives was to engage in a proper decolonisation process, establishing a list of territories yet to be decolonised.

French Polynesia, of which Tahiti is the economic and political centre, was included on the list.

France succeeded in having French Polynesia withdrawn from the list two years later.

Source

• Radio Australia
• Image Flagsflagsflags.net

Addressing the media in Tahiti after touring the area, Commodore Anne Cullerre says that platforms have been built on Mururoa atoll, should a coral cliff collapse trigger a huge wave and force the 35 military personnel deployed there to seek safety.

Cullerre says radiation from the former nuclear weapons test site poses no risks.

John Doom, national coordinator, Association of Former Nuclear Site Workers of Mururoa, says he had the information that a laboratory was starting to be built at Mururoa for the inspection of seabed resources in French Polynesia.

The head of the Moruroa e tatou veterans organisation in French Polynesia, Roland Oldham, says allowing access to the atoll would quell claims and counterclaims about work on the atoll.

Source

• Radio Australia International
• Radio New Zealand International
• Radio New Zealand International
• Image: The Epoch Times

He wanted to raise the issue of sovereignty for French Polynesia. "Getting my country back on the list is the first step."

His move to be included on the decolonisation list is opposed by France and Australia and New Zealand.

Temaru suggested Australia and New Zealand should abstain rather than oppose the territory's petition to be re-inscribed on the United Nations decolonisation list.

Last year the Pacific Conference of Churches called for the re-inscription of French Polynesia/Tahiti Nui on the UN decolonisation committee's list.

The Pacific Forum leaders had issued a communique recalling their 2004 decision to support the principle of French Polynesia's right to self-determination. They reiterated their encouragement to French Polynesia and France to seek an agreed approach on how to realize French Polynesia's right to self-determination.

However the PCC said the communique was vague and asked the Pacific Forum leaders to be clear about their stand on Maohi Nui's bid for re-inscription on the United Nations decolonisation committee's list.

"They should clearly state that they support the re-inscription of Maohi Nui and this should be noted in the communique," said Reverend Francois Pihaate, Acting General Secretary of the PCC.

"For too long Tahiti Nui has been fighting for her freedom and it's time, we, as a Pacific family stand up with a united voice to offer our support," he said.

Reverend Francois commended the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) in making a clear stand on the matter. A resolution passed at the recent meeting in Nadi, Fiji, stated that the MSG "Supported the re-inscription of French Polynesia/Tahiti Nui on the UN decolonisation committee's list as the first step in the process of self-determination, at international level."

"The Forum Leaders need to take heed of the resolution passed by the MSG Leaders and follow suit. They should not try to 'play it safe' by dodging the real issue and trying to cover up by inscribing words of encouragement on the communique, because this brushes aside the human rights struggles of the people of Maohi Nui," said Reverend Francois.

"During the recent Pacific Church Leaders meeting in Samoa a declaration was passed in support of Tahiti Nui's plight. The Church Leaders' Declaration said : "We have listened to the cry of the people of Maohi Nui, of their desire for freedom. We have discerned as Church Leaders and we hear the cry of God within the plea of the people of Maohi Nui. We have heard the appeal by the President of Maohi Nui, His Excellency Oscar Temaru, for the support of churches for the re-inscription of Maohi Nui in the United Nations Decolonisation Committee of 24 list."

"In this regard, we make the following pledges:

• We endorse the request of His Excellency Temaru to assist his lobby for the re-inscription of Maohi Nui in the United Nations Decolonisation List.
• Further, we pledge our support, individually as churches and as members of PCC, to do all that is within our means to help Maohi Nui attain political freedom.
• We welcome the World Council of Churches commitment to advocate for Maohi Nui's re-inscription in the Decolonisation List of the United Nations."

Source

• Pacific Conference of Churches
• Pacific Scoop
• Radio New Zealand International
• Image: Cook Islands News

The effects of rising tides in the region were part of discussions involving politicians and scientists from France, the European Union and the Pacific Island region in Papeete.

Delegates have heard that French Polynesia's 270,000 inhabitants spread over an area the size of Europe will be affected by climate change before the end of the century by higher sea levels.

Any rise in sea level brought about by the climate change could affect some of the low-lying islands in the Tuamotu archipelago, North East of Tahiti. However, the higher and less populated islands of Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora would be less affected.

Source

• Island Business
• Tahiti Presse

President Oscar Temaru, of Tahiti, in a special address to the PCC church leaders, appealed to the churches of the Pacific to help in his country's fight for independence, by listening to and aiding the people of Maohi Nui in their plight.

"My country used to be free, and my people used to be in charge of their destiny. That changed in the 19th century after the European discoverers reached our shores," he said.

The church leaders in attendance were unanimous in their support of this call. Mr Temaru noted, however, that: "Without the UN as a referee between France and us, this is once again an unfair and uphill battle. We seek a balanced evolution of our relations with France, under the observation of the UN."

Also present at the meeting, Reverend Dr. Olav Tveit, the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), pledged to find a proper way to address the issue and offered the assistance of the WCC in raising awareness of the issues facing the people of Maohi Nui.

Source

• Samoa Observer
• Image: Tahiti Presse