Marianas leaders oppose Bush plans for huge marine reserve

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Aerial view of the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands - Saipan.

Communications revolution for isolated Pacific nation
The Marshall Islands is to spend millions of dollars on a fibre optic cable link that will revolutionise communications in the isolated western Pacific nation, the government said Friday. The 100 million dollar cable is a joint project with the United States army and will link the US territory of Guam to the Marshall Islands atoll of Kwajalein, where the US Army operates a major missile testing facility. The Marshall Islands will need to spend nearly 18 million dollars on its share of the cable and must make a down payment of two million dollars by November 21. After several years of debating the project, Marshall Islands officials said Friday they were ready to back the project. "Cabinet has already endorsed it, we really want it to happen," transportation and communications minister Dennis Momotaro said Friday. Business leaders and health officials have been pushing the government in the Marshall Islands to fund the costly communications upgrade for some time. "It is time that this country wakes up to the 21st century and takes hold of the opportunity that today's technology can offer us," said Carlos Dominick, chief operations officer at a local construction company in Majuro. Majuro Hospital surgeon Kamal Gunawardane said installing the fibre optic cable would result in major improvements in healthcare for the country's 55,000 people. He said a fast broadband connection would allow Marshalls doctors to contact medical experts in other countries almost instantly, even while surgery is taking place. The army is installing the cable to allow missile tests to be controlled from Space and Missile Defense Command headquarters in Alabama, Lieutenant General Kevin Campbell of the US army said recently. This would save the cost of sending large numbers of personnel to Kwajalein to conduct tests, he said. The submarine cable will also link islands in the Federated States of Micronesia.

by Staff Writers
Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands (AFP) Oct 24, 2008
Political leaders in the US-administered Northern Mariana Islands have publicly rebuffed attempts by Washington to persuade them to support a huge marine sanctuary in their waters.

A US official said during a visit to the western Pacific territory this week that President George Bush wanted to establish the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument before he leaves office in January.

Supporters of the 115,000 square mile (297,850 square kilometre) reserve said it would be an important part of Bush's legacy as he leaves office.

"To be as blunt as possible, we do not feel... that stealing our birthright to curry favour with posterity is appropriate," Northern Mariana leaders said in a joint letter published Thursday.

Northern Marianas Governor Benigno R. Fitial, the Senate president and the House of Representatives speaker wrote to Bush's senior advisor on environment and energy James Connaughton, who led a trip to the territory earlier this week to promote the sanctuary.

Local leaders oppose the reserve because they say it would remove resources from local control, banning fishing and any future mining in the area.

The sanctuary would surround the territory's uninhabited northern islands of Maug, Asuncion and Uracus, and include parts of the Mariana Trench, the deepest ocean waters in the world.

Connaughton told legislators on Monday the waters around the three islands were chosen because they have the "greatest marine diversity on the face of the earth and all (the) corals are intact."

But local politicians said they felt they were being railroaded into supporting the plan.

"We certainly do not appreciate the rush to judgment that necessarily must take place, and possibly has already taken place, to secure the designation prior to January 2009," the letter added.

"Even though this was ostensibly the beginning of discussions, many present were left with the feeling that the result was pre-ordained and the discussion was more pretense than substance."

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Leaders arrive for regional summit after Fiji boycott

Niue (AFP) Aug 18, 2008
Pacific leaders arrived for a summit late Monday in the tiny island nation of Niue, a day after Fiji's military leader announced he would boycott the talks.

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