198 the Contemporary Pacific • Spring 1998 French

198 the contemporary pacific • spring 1998 Flosse has thus become a passionate French Polynesia advocate of the meeting. In the year 1996–97, territorial Presi- In another move designed to endear dent Gaston Flosse exerted renewed the territory to regional leaders, Flosse efforts to promote a favorable impres- bestowed honors on three heads of sion of the French presence in the government in mid-1996. The French region. His mission was helped by the Organic Law of April 1996, granting fact that any fears the French testing expanded autonomy to the territory, center might reopen for business are conferred the right for Tahiti to freely dissipating as the site’s facilities are determine its own distinctive symbols. being completely dismantled. Regret- The new statutory law allowed the tably, territorial political life is still rife creation of a territorial system of with corruption, most notably with honors, entitled Order of Tahiti Nui, the dismissal of eleven territorial coun- which was passed into legislation by cillors for electoral fraud. The national the Territorial Assembly in June 1996. assembly elections in Tahiti held few The first recipients of the new honors surprises, with candidates from the were Fiji’s Sitiveni Rabuka, Vanuatu’s conservative ruling coalition winning Maxime Carlot Korman, and the Cook both seats. The government’s continu- Islands’ Sir Geoffrey Henry. ing popularity is in part assured by its After the end of the nuclear test launching of a splendid range of major series, Flosse took it upon himself to public works projects subsidized by announce that a conference would be the postnuclear funds from France. held in Paris in September for Pacific This review concludes with a brief leaders to discuss the postnuclear role tribute to the life of Francis Sanford. of France in the Pacific. The hasty In the wake of the final series of choice of date proved ill advised, as it French nuclear tests in the Pacific, was scheduled only ten days after the Gaston Flosse continued his diplo- meeting of the South Pacific Forum, matic campaign to redeem France’s which had still to decide whether to image among island governments and readmit France into the Post-Forum raise the territory’s (and his own) Dialogue after its suspension the previ- profile in regional affairs. To this end, ous year because of the final test series. at the fifth Pacific leaders’ conference As a result of this poor timing, in July held by the Pacific Islands Develop- Flosse announced that the Pacific ment Program (pidp) in Suva in July, leaders’ meeting in Paris would be Flosse promised us$200,000 on behalf deferred until an undetermined date in of French Polynesia and France to 1997. ensure the financial viability and At the Forum meeting itself, held in continuation of the conference. The Majuro on 2 September, a Tahitian pidp meeting represents one of the few delegation caused a minor diplomatic opportunities for Flosse to participate incident when a territorial minister and as an equal among island leaders, an adviser to President Flosse arrived given that Tahiti is ineligible to be a uninvited to press the case for France’s member of the South Pacific Forum. readmission to the Post-Forum political reviews • polynesia 199 Dialogue. Although the Tahitians were to sever all links with the EU” (Tahiti politely excluded from the Forum’s Pacifique, March 1997, pp 8, 53). deliberations, ultimately on 3 Septem- An earlier vote by the French Senate ber the leaders did decide to readmit in July had provoked concern along France, effective immediately. As a similar lines. The Senate voted in favor result, at the Dialogue meeting held a of a bill that abolished the requirement few days later France was represented of a return airfare for metropolitan by the French minister for European French traveling to overseas French Affairs, Michel Barnier, possessions. This move revived fears in and Gaston Flosse. Tahiti that there would be an uncon- While progress is being made in trolled influx of people seeking work Tahiti’s relations with its Pacific neigh- and residence in a territory that is bors, the same cannot be said for its already struggling to combat high attitude to the European Union (eu) unemployment. with which it is associated as an over- The dismantling of facilities at the seas territory. In early February, Flosse Moruroa test site has been progressing launched into a passionate diatribe slowly. Virtually everything will be against the European Union. “Be destroyed, except for five blockhouses European, yes. But not at any price!” used to monitor the atmospheric tests, He invoked the dangers of an invasion the airport runway, and port facilities. of European immigrants to the terri- French Atomic Energy Commission tory in view of new directives that, if authorities predict it will take two applied, would allow eu citizens easy years to complete the process. This access to set up residence and seek time frame will allow for the gradual employment in the territory. He also voluntary separation of some four accused Europe of giving the overseas hundred employees of the test center. territories only 10 percent of the finan- President Flosse confirmed that France cial aid granted per capita to overseas would maintain a permanent labora- departments. tory for radiological surveillance and On 20 February, Flosse moved and several technicians to run it. Flosse passed a resolution in the Territorial also reported that Moruroa is unsuit- Assembly that “the obligations able for any commercial enterprises, imposed [by Europe] on FP largely such as tourism, because of the high outweigh the advantages that she gets costs of transporting goods and . she demands immediately that the services to the isolated atoll. power granted by her statute be recog- The remaining medium- and low- nised and protected from all incursions level nuclear waste at the test sites has by European law. [The Territorial been interred in deep shafts and cov- Assembly was] convinced that the free ered with concrete. According to a installation of Europeans would pose a French military spokesman, General grave risk of social disequilibrium. .” Michel Boileau, the atoll will be Flosse further warned that “if at the returned to its “original state” follow- outset of negotiations we do not get ing a program of revegetation. Boileau satisfaction, I think we will be driven insists that no radioactivity remains on 200 the contemporary pacific • spring 1998 the surface of either Moruroa or Court of Appeal. Flosse will be judged Fangataufa. The extent of any surface for passive corruption and complicity radioactivity and the likelihood of relating to clandestine casinos in his future leakage from radioactive municipality of Pirae in 1991 and substances underground should be 1992. Juventin must face similar clarified in a forthcoming report by the charges concerning casinos in Pape‘ete International Atomic Energy Agency, in 1988. The casinos were managed by due to be released early in 1998. Julien Li Lem, alias Hombo, who is As part of France’s new policy of facing charges of active corruption and transparency, in October a press dele- running illegal casinos. Hombo has gation, and later a delegation from the publicly declared that Flosse and French parliament, were invited to Juventin accepted bribes for their per- inspect the dismantling of facilities and sonal gain and for their respective cleaning up at the atolls. The parlia- political parties in return for turning a mentary delegation represented the blind eye to the casinos’ operations. As three major parties and included a in the past, concluding these court specialist on nuclear wastes, Mr cases has proved painfully slow. Bataille. He sought guarantees that In a shock move on 25 March, the France would fulfill its responsibilities state-run Administrative Tribunal and ensure that monitoring of the test annulled the election of eleven territo- sites continued not just for ten years, rial councillors from the last election but for several generations. The dele- held in May 1996. Their alleged elec- gation also noted that the French toral fraud involved the misuse of parliament has a right to call for inde- funds designated to assist the outer pendent verification of radioactive islands to facilitate the election of monitoring at Moruroa in addition to members of the government majority, that undertaken by the French Atomic that is, the Tahoeraa party of Flosse. Energy Commission and the military, The commission deciding distribution though whether it will exercise this of these funds, presided over by a right is unclear. (For more on nuclear Tahoeraa member, had provided hous- issues, see the Region in Review, 1996 ing benefits to inhabitants of the Lee- [Contemporary Pacific 9:448–457; ward Islands just prior to the 1996 1997].) territorial elections to influence voting Territorial political life was as color- preferences. Flosse was named in ful as ever in respect to corruption alle- connection with dubious practices in gations and continuing court cases. the Marquesas, where he gave his During the year, a number of mayors approval for the construction of a were convicted for corruption and football field and provided materials forced to pay fines and give up their and labor for the project from the public offices. In November, a corrup- territorial public works service. These tion case implicating Flosse and the incidents led to the dismissal of eleven former Pape‘ete mayor-cum-national Tahoeraa councillors, three from the deputy, Jean Juventin, was sent to the Marquesas and eight from the Lee- Correctional Tribunal in Paris by the ward Islands. political reviews • polynesia 201 The tribunal’s move to rein in elec- September 1995. When Temaru sought toral fraud comes after many years of the right of reply on rfo, his request allegations that public funds, services, was refused.

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