PNG Prime Minister supports Greenpeace
 Umuda
Island, 15 May 2002: Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Sir Mekere
Morauta, has joined Greenpeace and landowners in condemning the
destructive logging project Kiunga Aiambak.
Yesterday Sir Mekere released an official statement saying, “the
Kiunga- Aiambak project, involving Concord Pacific Ltd and a landowner
company, should never have occurred.”
Sir Mekere also said:
- The full court hearing is scheduled for the end of this week;
- The Acting Attorney-General will join the case in support of
the Forest Authority;
- Allegations of human rights abuses against resource owners would
be investigated;
- This logging project will be one of the first operations to
be examined under the forthcoming independent review of projects;
and
- Further extensions to this project will neither be permitted,
nor valid.
“We are pleased by these undertakings. But Greenpeace wants
the Kiunga Aiambak logs currently at Umuda Island to be seized
by the government. They should be either returned to their rightful
owners, or the logs sold by the Forest Authority and the monies
received paid into a trust account pending final court proceedings”
said Greenpeace forest specialist, Brian Brunton.
Overnight Malaysian logging company Concord Pacific towed the
log barge away from the MV Hua Yang after sighting the Prime Minister’s
statement condemning the logging operations. Greenpeace climbers
left the ship’s cranes more than 48 hours after they first
climbed them.
Greenpeace activists will stand watch over the remaining logs
until the court makes its ruling on the legality of the project
on Friday.
The Greenpeace activity began on Sunday afternoon, when volunteers
boarded the MV Hua Yang, which was loading Kiunga Aiambak logs
to take to China. Most of the logs are exported to China, Japan
and Korea, where they are used to make furniture, flooring and
cheap plywood.
Landowners say the Kiunga Aiambak logging project has bought
them social, environmental and economic problems.
More information:
-
Read activists' account of the action >
- Go to photo
gallery >
- Find out more at www.paradiseforest.org
- Download Partners in Crime (2002) (PDF/688k,
text
only/83k), a new report about logging in Papua New Guinea.
|
