MSG leaders eye West Papua visit by December

A special envoy led by the Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and his Papua New Guinea counterpart, James Marape, is likely to visit West Papua by December this year.

Melanesian Spearhead Group director general Anna Naupa confirmed this with the Fiji Sun following the MSG meeting held on the margins of the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Palau on Monday.

Leaders had agreed in Honiara, Solomon Islands, last year that the envoy must conduct a fact-finding mission and visit Melanesian communities in Indonesia.

The 2025 Forum Leaders communique called for efforts to facilitate a visit by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to West Papua this year, through the appointed special envoys in discussion with the MSG.

“The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat has been in discussion with the MSG Secretariat to work closely with Indonesia to facilitate this to happen in 2026, particularly while Indonesia holds the presidency of the UN Human Rights Council,” Ms Naupa said.

“The communication is underway with Indonesia, and the aspiration is to have a date before the end of this term, which ends on the 31st of December 2026.”

Ocean commissioner

Part of the conversation during the MSG meeting was the position of Pacific Ocean Commissioner currently held by Dr Filimoni Manoni since 2023.

“The conversation has come up amongst the MSG membership. However, the understanding is that first, the forum process is of most importance in terms of recognising the valuable work of the current Pacific Ocean Commissioner, who is himself a brother of Melanesia and of Marshall Islands,” Ms Naupa said.

“One of the matters that the Melanesian Spearhead Group has always showed solidarity around is the solidarity of Melanesian support for candidates from within the MSG membership, whether these are regional or international candidates, including within the multilateral systems, not only here in our region.”

Dr Manoni’s three-year term ends this year.