By Steven Edwards. National
Post . May 29, 2001
Leaders of territories listed by the United Nations as colonies in need of
liberation are asking the world body to stop interfering in their affairs.
The governor of American Samoa said he wants the South Pacific island group
struck from the UN's list of "colonized" peoples, saying islanders are
happy as a United States dependency.
The governor of Guam, an American-administered Pacific island also on the
colonized list, said the United States represents "real freedom" in
his homeland.
The leaders spoke at a UN decolonization conference in Cuba that launched a
Week of Solidarity With the Peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories that began
Friday.
Few territories among the 17 on the list said they want to cut ties with
their respective parent countries, but the UN is launching a "Second
International Decade for the Eradication of Colonization" to do that.
The push has the backing of Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general.
"We must see the process through to its end," he said in a message
to the conference.
"If the committee is really interested in the eradication of
colonialism, it should look at the situation in Western Papua New Guinea, a
clear example of colonialism," said Eni Faleomavaega, American Samoa's
representative in Congress.
"Too often the special committee has been used as a platform to attack
the United States," Faleomavaega added.
His words add to growing congressional impatience with the UN over the
recent ejection of the United States from the UN Human Rights Committee. | 