PAPUA NEW GUINEA DELEGATION IN VANUATU FOR TOK SORI CEREMONY RECEIVED BY MSG SECRETARIAT

PORT VILA, VANUATU (5 August 2024): The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat received a Papua New Guinea delegation on Thursday, 1 August led by Hon. Powes Parkop, Governor of the National Capital District (NCD) who attended Vanuatu’s 44th Independence Anniversary celebrations in Port Vila.

The delegation comprised Hon. Lohia Boe Samuel, Member for Port Moresby North West; Hon. Keith Iduhu, Member for Central Hiri; and Grand Chief Brigadier Ted Ramu Diro, Former Commander of the PNG Defence Force.

In welcoming them to the Secretariat, Director General, Leonard Louma assured them of the deep pride and honour attached to their visit to the Secretariat.

“At the very outset, let me admit that it is not lost on us here at the Secretariat that our creation as an organization is very much the product of what transpired 44 years ago in Santo when Papua New Guinea answered the plea for assistance from a fledging young Melanesian country aspiring to take its place as an independent nation in the Pacific and indeed the world.

“In more ways than one, MSG as an organization was born from that crucible of conflict in Santo. That readiness and willingness of a fellow MSG country, that was at that stage no more than 5 years old itself, as an independent nation, took the bold step to intervene, when others older than itself, were not able to respond in the affirmative, to the request for help from Vanuatu.” DG Louma stated.

He said the events in Santo set off a paradigm shift in the way our Leaders thought of cooperation amongst and between themselves. 

The experience he said, convinced them that cooperation amongst and between themselves was possible despite their myriads of challenges and very limited resources.

Soon after the successful intervention in Santo, then PNG Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan invited the first Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Fr Walter Lini, to join him on the aircraft to the Solomon Islands to talk with then Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Sir Peter Kenilorea, about how they might cooperate and collaborate with each other in their quest to address the different development challenges that their countries were facing.

“The seeds of MSG cooperation were sewn there and then. Convinced of the need to have joint approaches and positions on shared challenges and interests, Leaders of Vanuatu, PNG, Solomon Islands and the FLNKS external affairs representative, Yanne Celene Uregei, met informally in Goroka in 1986 and agreed to formalize the organization and coined the name “Melanesian Spearhead Group” as the name of our Organisation,” DG Louma said. 

Two years later in 1988, the Agreed Principles of Cooperation between the Independent States of Melanesia was signed in Port Vila to formally establish the MSG Group.

The Secretariat also gifted the delegation with a pig, kava and mats for the Tok Sori ceremony at the Saralana Park later on Friday afternoon, for the unfortunate loss of life during the Santo operation caused by the Kumul Force.

“This magnanimous act will have very deep and profound significance. It will heal wounds suffered from the conflict, it will build bridges destroyed as a consequence of that conflict, it will restore family ties shattered by the conflict, and it will reaffirm PNG’s noble intentions in agreeing to assist Vanuatu with its request – to help Vanuatu and its people find their feet as an independent nation and not to deliberately bring harm to its citizens,” DG Louma added.

Grand Chief Brigadier Ted Ramu Diro, Former Commander of the PNGDF who led the Kumul Force to stop the Santo rebellion in 1980, was honored with a Distinction Medal by the President of Vanuatu, His Excellence Nikenike Vurobaravu at the State House on Independence Day.