MSG too politicised: Ambassador Joy

The Vanuatu Ambassador to Brussels, Roy Mickey Joy, says the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) is too politicised, has lost its Melanesian integrity and what it stood for.

Ambassador Roy made the statement to Daily Post when asked if he was still interested in the possibility of becoming the next Director General of the Melanesian regional institution, if the upcoming MSG Leaders Meeting in Suva decides to re-advertise the post of the Director General.

“Honestly, I am no longer interested,” was his simple and direct answer.

Asked to elaborate he said, “Because the MSG has been too politicised by the member Leaders and the MSG has tarnished its integrity.

“There are a lot questions being asked abroad by international organisations about the image of the MSG in Melanesia and the Pacific region.”

Ambassador Roy was the Vanuatu candidate for the MSG top post, when it became vacant.

The Vanuatu Prime Minister, Charlot Salwai, wrote a letter to the MSG who is the Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogovare, advising him of the Vanuatu candidate.

But shortly after, the member countries learnt that the MSG Chair had already appointed Fiji’s candidate to the top post.

Daily Post understands that the Fiji’s candidate arrived in Port Vila to take his post.

In the meantime, the Daily Post also understands that the pending issue of the Director General of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) will be on top of the agenda in the upcoming MSG leaders meeting in Fiji.

“Whatever the outcome, I am no longer interested because the MSG leaders have politicised the Melanesian Institution and likewise the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila,” Ambassador Joy told the Daily Post.

“Transparency and guiding rules have not been followed when the MSG is supposed to be an independent and impartial and transparent organisation.

“Its influence is at stake. Organisations in the region and abroad are watching and questioning what’s going on in the MSG and the leadership of the MSG.

“As a long serving Ambassador abroad, I am calling on the MSG leaders to come to a drawing board as to how far we have come and where we are going,” stated the Vanuatu Ambassador to Brussels.

He said his second mandate as the Vanuatu Ambassador to Brussels ends in March 2017.

“If the offer is made to me by the Vanuatu Government for a third term in Brussels, I will take it because I want to stand for my country.

“I have always been patriotic regionally and abroad about upholding the image of my country Vanuatu, Ambassador Roy said.

Meanwhile, the Committee of Ambassadors of the Africa Caribbean Pacific Secretariat in Brussels is meeting next week, to prepare a dossier on West Papua for eventual submission to the Council of Ministers of the European Parliament four months away in October.

This was confirmed by the Dean of Ambassadors who is the Vanuatu Ambassador to the European Union, Roy Mickey Joy, during his accreditation to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and World Food Programme (WFP) in Port Vila last Friday.

The Ambassador took the opportunity to assure the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Leingkone, that every workload on West Papua is now on the shoulders of Vanuatu’s special representative to ACP, young and energetic MP Marco Mahe.

“We at the Embassy in Brussels will work closely with MP Mahe, through the Committee of Ambassadors, to ensure that by the time you (Minister of Foreign Affairs) arrive in Brussels in October, we will have made enough consultations and engagements with the European Parliament and members of ACP to support the dossier on West Papua,” Ambassador Joy said.

He asked the Minister to advise the Government that his team on the ground is fully engaged on the West Papua case.

“I have already briefed the Council of Ministers that the Committee of Ambassadors will be meeting in Brussels on the West Papua case next week,” the Minister said.

The Ambassador replied that as Dean of Ambassadors, he will make sure that the West Papua dossier is supported by member countries of Africa Caribbean Pacific.

SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST