Jayapura, Jubi – The Chair of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Prime Minister Hon Manasseh Sogavare has welcomed Indonesia’s ‘generous’ assistance towards the recovery efforts of MSG member country, Fiji, from Cyclone Winston.
An Indonesian Government delegation led by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, General Luhut Pandjaitan presented a cheque worth FJ$10-Million to the Fiji Prime Minister in Suva, Fiji, last Friday.
General Pandjaitan and his delegation visited Suva last week as part of their tour of the Melanesian sub-region.
In greeting the assistance and tour, the MSG Chair and Solomon Islands Prime Minister said the generous contribution by Indonesia towards the recovery phase of Fiji from tropical cyclone Winston demonstrated the clear need for the MSG to continue to hold on to the core values of self-determination for West Papua, as agreed by the MSG Leaders in Noumea, New Caledonia in 2014.
“The visit of the Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Panjaitan is a testament to the increasing solidarity of the MSG member countries. In the same vein, the plight of the people of West Papua is also a struggle that the MSG must contend with and as such the MSG Chair reiterates the offer of providing a space for a process of dialogue between an observer, United Liberation Movement for West Papua and Indonesia as an associate member of the MSG,” Sogavare said.
“Painfully, we accept the sovereignty of Indonesia over West Papua. This is a good starting point for dialogue on the future of the peoples of West Papua,” he added.
The MSG Chair also renewed the keen interest of the MSG member countries in the proposed Pacific Islands Forum mission to verify information on human rights violations in West Papua. This decision was made at the last Pacific Islands Forum in Papua New Guinea in September 2015.
He expressed his anticipation to welcome General Panjaitan and his delegation in Honiara to discuss matters of concern to the MSG and added that in the same token, he is also keen to pay a goodwill visit to Jakarta as an associate member of the MSG.
Meanwhile, the Special Secretary to MSG Chair, Rence Sore, confirmed that the MSG Special Leaders’ Summit will take place in early May 2016 at the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila. (Victor Mambor)
Source : Solomon’s PM Office
