|
Item 1: Tsunami strikes the Solomon Islands
(5mins 23secs)
On 1st April a tsunami hit the Solomon islands. At least 50 people died and thousands were made homeless.
Two of Solomon Islands' 10 provinces were effected but the worst hit was Western Province where more than 40 thousand people are officially in need of help.
Robin White has been talking to Lennie Delavera of the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation in Gizo, the capital of Western province.
Item 2: Chaos surrounds Nigeria election
(Total all three inserts: 3mins 47secs)
Nigeria has just been to the polls to elect a new President, but few Nigerians are happy.
It's the first time power has been transferred from one elected government to another in Nigeria. But only the Nigerian electoral commission thinks it went well.
Ballot papers were late arriving, ballot boxes were stuffed, there was a good deal of violence and someone even tried to drive a lorry packed with explosives at the electoral commission headquarters.
Election observers from the Commonwealth and Europe said it was all most unsatisfactory. But despite all the grumbles and calls for the whole thing to be scrapped, the electoral commission went ahead to declare the winner.
Umaru Yar Adua, former Governor of Katsina state, was the handpicked successor of the outgoing president, Olusegun Obasanjo. But even Obasanjo,appealing to Nigerians to be calm and accept the result, was clearly not too convinced at the way the elections had been run.
So who was to blame for the chaos surrounding the elections? Power hungry politicians? Or the electoral commission, the INEC? Robin White asked Eddie Iroh one-time head of Nigerian Broadcasting.
|
|
|
|
Item 3: Claims over Maldives death
(2mins 12secs)
Once again the Maldives government and the opposition Democratic Party are at daggers drawn. The MDP have long been calling for free and fair elections and have taken to the streets in protest.
Now they're angry at the death of a party member, Hussain Salah, who they claim died while in police custody.
The government says that's rubbish and that he was arrested not for his politics but on drugs charges...and that he drowned after being released. An official post mortem seems to support that.
Large crowds of opposition supporters turned out for Hussain Salah's funeral and there were skirmishes, beatings and arrests. Among those who were picked up was MDP spokesman Mohammed Nasheed. On the line to the Maldives capital, I asked him exactly what had happened.
Item 4: In search of a Melanesian heritage
(7mins 46secs)
|
|
Three Commonwealth journalists from Papua New Guinea, The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu came to London in April in search of their past. They were invited by the British Museum to look at its large collection of artifacts from Melanesia, of which the three countries are part.
But does the term Melanesia mean anything in today's world? To find out, Robin White brought the visitors together - Walter Nalangu from the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, Ambong Thomson, radio programme organiser at the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, and Peter Kinjap a newspaper journalist from Papua New Guinea.
Robin asked Walter Nalangu first if he believes the three countries share a common culture.
|
|
| |
Item 5: Reclaiming India's flooded homeland
(3mins 57secs)
In India's north eastern state of Tripura, a running battle is being waged over a hydroelectric dam and an artificial reservoir that feeds it.
The Gumti reservoir was built more than 30 years ago to provide power for the region. Thousands of local Reang tribespeople were moved to make way for a 65-square kilometre lake.
But now lack of rainfall and silting have caused the water levels to sink. The land is re-emerging and hundreds of Reang people who used to live and farm there are flocking back to reclaim it. The police are driving them out.
Campaigners are arguing that the whole project will never be feasible and should be scrapped ....and that the Reang people should be allowed to resettle. One campaigner is Indian journalist Subir Bhaumek who comes from Tripura. Robin White asked him how many people had tried to return.
Item 6: Helping Jamaica's gangsters
(2mins 22secs)
|
|
Not many people have sympathy with gangsters and hoodlums but one Jamaican woman goes out of her way to help them.
Evelyn Mason was a convicted gangster herself when she lived in the UK. Back in Jamaica she runs a small organisation which looks after Jamaicans who have spent time in American jails and then get deported back home.
Many can return to a life of crime, but Evelyn, otherwise known as Fat Pam, thinks they can be helped. Robin White spoke to her on the line to Kingston Jamaica.
|
|
| |
|
Download the full programme
(mp3 11,842KB)
NEW! You can now download transcripts of selected items. Look for the symbol.
