Vanuatu

The Supreme Court this week declared a decision by the newly-appointed speaker of parliament, Marcellino Pipite, to rule out the opposition's motion of no confidence against the new prime minister Sato Kilman, and ordered parliament to reconvene on Tuesday to hear it.
 

The affected population has received aid through a mixture of distribution, emergency training and service provision across six sectors: Health, Shelter, Education, Food Security and Livelihood, WASH, Child Protection.

With shelter, food and hygiene the most pressing needs in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, Save the Children worked in partnership with the World Food Programme and the National Disaster Management Office to effect food distributions to the entire populations of Epi, Tongoa, the Shepherd Islands and the outer islands of Efate – almost 23,000 people.

Air Niugini General Manager Marketing Dominic Kaumu told PNG Loop that Vanuatu needed business minded people from PNG to invest in that country.

 He said the first commercial flight by Air Niugini yesterday opened the doors to businesses to invest in Vanuatu.

"There is a lot of investment opportunities in Vanuatu.”

“Business houses in PNG and especially Small and Medium Term Enterprises must start venturing into Vanuatu and grow their business," Kaumu said.

Most were Papua New Guineans married to Vanuatu and who now reside in Port Vila.

Helen Franklin and her husband Luke were some of those to welcome the flight.

They are Missionaries and have been serving in Port Vila for a while now.

Mrs Franklin could not hold back her tears in an interview with PNG Loop.

She said as soon as the plane touched down, she was so excited because it brought the presence of PNG closer to them.

She thanked Air Niugini for allowing such partnership between the people of Vanuata and PNG.

General Manager Dominic Kaumu revealed this yesterday after its first commercial flight to Bauerfield International Airport in Vanuatu, Port Vila.

He said the inaugural flight will include very important people including Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and other government ministers and officers.

Kaumu said the commercial flight today signifies a strong relationship Papua New Guinea has with the other Melanesian Spearhead Group countries.

So far Air Niugini is servicing three MSG countries.

These are Solomon Island, Fiji and now Vanuatu.

It's the first commercial flight. General manager Dominic Kaumu says the flight is a way to help the Melanesian Spearhead Group countries in the Pacific.

He said the flight will also help the people of Vanuatu and Solomon Island during the upcoming Pacific Games in Port Moresby.

 Onboard the flight include Air Niugini executive officers, National Airport Corporation staff, journalists and other passengers.

From Radio New Zealand

The secretary general of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua says he is confident in Vanuatu's support, despite the change in government.

Vanuatu got a new government 12 days ago after a vote of no confidence.

The ULMWP's Octo Mote is in Port Vila ahead of this week's Melanesian Spearhead Group summit in neighbouring Solomon Islands, where the West Papuan group will be pushing for full membership of the MSG.

 From Vanuatu Daily Post/PACNEWS

That case has been delayed until Wednesday afternoon.

The Vanuatu opposition had challenged the decision by the newly appointed Speaker of Parliament Marcellino Pipite to dismiss the application against the Sato Kilman led government.

Meanwhile the trial of 19 MPs who allegedly received money from the then opposition leader, Moana Carcasses, in exchange for their support to effect a change of government is also underway.

Mr Carcasses has previously admitted giving the money to the MPs but insists they were personal loans, not bribes.

In its own Facebook account, Air Vanuatu had to come out and make the apology and said “unfortunately the service was delayed then cancelled due to engineering requirements”.

The FB post alleged that passengers had to wait until 10pm Thursday when they were told the flight was cancelled and passengers were then accommodated at hotels at Air Vanuatu expenses.