Transcript
RICHARD TUHEIAVA: "Initially it was a request we, the sovereignty party, put in maybe three years ago as an interim, intermediary step just after the reinscription. But because Oscar Temaru and our party were no longer in power, of course the special committee was most likely to listen to what the local elected government would like. And indeed last year the president Edouard Fritch made that request, made that invitation. The chair of the special committee this year took note of that invitation. So this invitation is an interesting step to just push this process forward not only in favour of the pro-France coalition but also in favour of the dialogue that needs to be installed with the sovereignty advocates.
WZ: A mission like this - what would that mission see or achieve?
RT: Well, the first things is to make sure that the mission is approved by France, as a state party that remains very, very reluctant to the principle of the reinscription, which means if the mission is welcomed by the administering power, by France, that would also mean that the principle of the reinscription has been approved, which is a significant step for us. Coming back to the content of the visiting mission. It would normally cover the issues that are raised before the special committee, for example the natural resources issue, the nuclear issue, which is the main reason why the special committee might need to come, and also some other issues, like the electoral system, the justice system, the defence system, the army system here in Tahiti, in French Polynesia.
WZ: With the nuclear issue, what would you expect a UN mission to ascertain or conclude?
RT: The issue of the compensation, the financial compensation of the victims is really not solved at the moment even though some steps have been taken by France and the French parliament over the past few years. The public in Oceania needs to know there have been some challenges at the UN level between last year and this year. There is a paragraph calling on the secretary general of the UN to write down a report on the consequences of the nuclear testing in French Polynesia and for a year that paragraph was removed at the initiative of the administering power and we know that. So what we've done was to call and lobby for that paragraph to come back. It's a small victory as it's now been done, so the nuclear reporting is still on track for UN scrutiny.
WZ: Is there a time frame for any of this? The testing stopped in the 1990s - any hope when this can be settled conclusively?
RT: We are very much optimistic even though France seems to be waiting for the last victims of the nuclear testing to be passing away. Last year, President Temaru submitted a communication at the International Criminal Court in The Hague to qualify the facts as a crime against humanity. It is likely that this year more people, more victims, physical victims will follow the same way. So some people are now thinking of doing this for their own case before the court in The Hague.
WZ: There sees to be little support for the decolonisation process from the Pacific Islands Forum, from Pacific Island countries. Is there any hope that the Forum will follow this decolonisation mission as it has been supporting other countries in the region over these years?
RT: We now understand how difficult it is for our Pacific cousins, especially the leaders of the members of the Forum to all agree about what happens because internal affairs, internal interests are all on track for their own countries. What we really expect from the Pacific Islands Forum is not necessarily support on the nuclear issue but mostly on the self-determination issue because now, even though it's under Edouard Fritch, that it happened but French Polynesia is now also a member of the Forum, a full member, so it's likely for leaders, for Pacific leaders to continue to support the principle of self-determination of the people of French Polynesia which means that on the nuclear folder we will probably engage other forums, other arenas and other spaces of discussion on the international stage.
WZ: In terms of strategic outlook France seems to have re-engaged in the Pacific as some sort of axis against China. So from a French point of view decolonisation seems to be moving away - do you see it that way as well?
RT: Yes, for sure. Of course, France was behind the scene when New Caledonia and French Polynesia reached the stage of full member of the Forum - number one and number two, it's pretty clear from our perspective that France is now operating a game at an upper level in the face of China and the United States in the region to keep its dependencies under control..
Richard Tuheiava, a French Polynesian assembly member of the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira Party
