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| Bodies of civilians being evacuated after an attack by an armed group at Nogolaid Village, Kenyam District, Nduga Regency, Papua, last Saturday. IMAGE: Jubi |
By DAVID ROBIE
A LIVELY 43sec video clip surfaced during last week’s Pacific Islands Forum in the Fiji capital of Suva — the first live leaders’ forum in three years since Tuvalu, due to the covid pandemic.
Posted on Twitter by Guardian Australia’s Pacific Project editor Kate Lyons it showed the doorstopping of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare by a melee of mainly Australian journalists.
An aloof Sogavare was being tracked over questions about security and China’s possible military designs for the Melanesian nation.
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doorstop on security and China greets Solomon Islands Prime Minister
Manasseh Sogavare (in blue shirt) at the Pacific islands Forum in Suva last week. IMAGE: Twitter screenshot @MsKateLyons |
But Lyons made a comment directed more at questioning journalists themselves about their newsgathering style:
“Australian media attempt to get a response from PM Sogavare, who has refused to answer questions from international media since the signing of the China security deal, on his way to a bilateral with PM Albanese. He stayed smilingly silent.”
