Flattened Pacific island may give up self-rule
David Fickling in Sydney
Monday January 12, 2004
The Guardian
The world's smallest self-governing country may give
up its independence in the wake of a devastating
cyclone last week which made a tenth of its people
homeless.
Politicians on the Pacific island of Niue say the
resulting exodus could make its current status
unviable.
At present 2,100 people live on the island, 4,000
miles north-east of New Zealand, but only half are
native Niueans, and that may fall to 500 in the coming
months.
"People have already started leaving," the former
finance minister, Terry Coe, told the Auckland Sunday
Star-Times. "The morale of people is really quite
low."
The acting premier, Toke Talagi, said the devastation
caused by last Monday's storm would push many
islanders to New Zealand, where all Niueans have
rights of citizenship and 20,000 already live.
The island became a self-governing territory "in free
association with New Zealand" in 1974.
"Many, I'm sure, have been thinking about options
other than living in Niue," he said.
"Those people who have contemplated leaving will now
be resolved to leave. The fact we have free access to
New Zealand means that we have that option. It is a
blessing and a curse."
Cyclone Heta is described as the worst storm in living
memory on Niue. One person was killed in a collapsing
building and the capital Alofi was flattened by 190mph
winds.
A storm surge and waves overwhelmed the 60ft
(18-metre) cliffs which ring the island.
On top of that, asbestos released from old houses
destroyed by the cyclone threatens a public health
crisis.
The estimated £18.5m cost of clearing it up is more
than six times the £3m annual aid Niue receives from
New Zealand, which represents about two-thirds of the
country's gross domestic product.
The New Zealand foreign minister, Phil Goff, said
Niue's constitutional status was under review but the
decision would be left to the government in Alofi.
"We need to acknowledge what the people on Niue want,
rather than being seen as a former colonial country
imposing our will," he said.
"Without a living community on Niue - that would
endanger the culture and language of Niuean people."
Tourism is the only industry of any size on Niue, a
100 square mile raised coral atoll populated by
Polynesians closely related to the people of Tonga and
Samoa.
Its annual exports amount to less than £100,000. But
the island did have the distinction of being the only
country to have nationwide wireless internet access
until Cyclone Heta destroyed the transmitter last
week.
The viability of the Pacific microstates has come into
question in recent months, since Australia mooted the
idea of pooled regional governance at the annual
meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum.
In a policy paper last month Canberra mentioned Nauru,
which houses an Australian refugee camp where a
month-long hunger strike ended last week, as a
possible candidate for re-integration with Australia.
The Niuean government recently considered offering
citizenship to the people of Tuvalu, a north Pacific
island state in danger of being overwhelmed by the
rising sea level due to global warming, to help stem
its own population problem.
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