2 May 2006

Vanuatu Government told it should have hard evidence before deporting Papuan

8:22 pm on 2 May 2006

The sister of Vanuatu Prime Minister Ham Lini says the government should produce some hard evidence before it deports Papuan activist Andy Ayamiseba.

Hilda Lini, who was the guest speaker at a ceremony in Port Vila to commemorate the raising of the Papuan Morning Star flag, criticised the government for not having a clear foreign policy on Papua.

She questions the government's attempts to deport Mr Ayamiseba on the grounds that he is a risk to national security.

Ms Lini says ni-Vanuatu are culturally linked to Papuans and will not stand for a fellow-Melanesian being treated like this.

"If Andy has broken the law in Vanuatu then there's a process of having to put that through the court. At the moment Andy is a stateless person - you don't know where you will be sending him back to. Because he doesn't have residential permit of citizenship in Australia, Indonesia, Holland or where ever, and he doesn't even have one in Vanuatu."

Andy Ayamiseba's appeal against his deportation order will be heard on May 22nd.