Time is on NZ's side over hosting of next Forum meeting

The Pacific Islands Forum ended in Kiribati yesterday plagued by further controversy over Fiji.

But Prime Minister Helen Clark is quietly pleased with the outcome, despite a growing rift among forum members.

Leaders went home unable to resolve a bitter dispute about whether Fiji should host next year's forum, since the elected Government was overthrown in May by George Speight.

But a decision delayed is seen as a victory by New Zealand. It will give Helen Clark time to lobby other leaders more thoroughly.

New Zealand was among several countries which dug their toes in, denying any prospect of consensus. Officials and the Kiribati President, Teburoro Tito, will confer with leaders and make a decision in two months.

Helen Clark will boycott a Fiji forum. So, too, would Australia, and probably Samoa and Niue - at least a quarter of the member states.

The Prime Minister said a number of members considered the absence of constitutional Government - and the existence of a Government which derived its authority only from the fact that Speight launched a coup - was not sufficient basis for hosting a forum.

As well, Niue wants to hold next year's gathering, which would be more important than usual because invitations have been extended to the UN and Commonwealth Secretaries-General.

Before the forum, Helen Clark indicated that New Zealand might be available as a last resort.

But that may not be acceptable to island states resentful of New Zealand and Australia having got their way on both the Biketawa declaration - steps to intervene in member countries when constitutional government is threatened - and the venue.

Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase said it was his country's turn and he was confident that the decision would go Fiji's way despite the delay.

He believed a majority of members supported Fiji. They are thought to include Palau, Federated States of Micronesia and Tuvalu.

Mr Qarase, who heads an interim Government appointed by the military, told reporters that democratic elections would be held within 18 months.

He also said New Zealand and Australia should have more awareness of the complexities of the problems in Fiji.

Helen Clark, who assiduously avoided Mr Qarase, said New Zealand understood the problem very well. And she believed the route to democracy could be fast-tracked.

"We do think every citizen has equal rights in the country in which they were born. We will keep advocating that in respect to Fiji."

Asked if he was aware of Helen Clark's personal snub of him, Mr Qarase said: " I think I have been snubbing her as well. So fair go."

Helen Clark and Australian Prime Minister John Howard were strong allies on Fijian issues, but less so on West Papua, the Indonesian province formerly known as Irian Jaya.

Nauru raised eyebrows by turning up with three West Papuans among its accredited delegation. Mr Howard refused to meet them, saying they had no status and he would not do anything that undermined the sovereign authority of Indonesia.

Helen Clark, a campaigner in her youth for various independence movements, had her photograph taken with two of them, much to the concern of foreign affairs officials on the scene.

She said it was "a breakthrough" to have had the issue raised at the forum.

One of the West Papuan-Nauru delegates, Nick Messet, said the photograph would be published in newspapers in West Papua and Australia.

Nauru and Vanuatu backed away from seeking forum observer status for West Papua, in the certain knowledge that the proposal would not have been accepted by most of the 16 member countries, including both New Zealand and Australia.

The forum issued a carefully worded statement calling on both the secessionists and Indonesia "to resolve their differences peacefully."

The Kiribati gathering was unusually long - four days - with Sunday off in the middle of it.

Helen Clark toured the poorer part of Kiribati, but ostensibly to view the war memorials and relics from the Battle of Tarawa, including a Sherman tank jutting from the sand.

She laid a wreath at the memorial of 17 New Zealanders who were decapitated by the Japanese, after being tied to coconut trees for three days.

The memorial inscription reads: "Standing unarmed to their posts they matched brutality with gallantry and met death with fortitude."

She also attended a function for New Zealanders on Kiribati, among them five Marist teaching brothers.

One of them was musician Dave Dobbyn's brother, Brother Kevin.

They were billeting members of the French delegation in Kiribati for post-forum talks.