Swains Atoll

TOKELAUAN'S DECLARED ITS CLAIMS TO US TERRITORY OF SWAINS ISLAND IS FEEBLE.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (July 4, 2002 - Agence France-Presse)-- A minuscule Pacific region trying to take possession of a private US atoll has always been said to be poor and unsuccessful in multinational courts, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said on Thursday. You said that the Tokelau tribe, just off Samoa, had been questioned throughout the trial.

It' s about Olohega or Swains Island, an 800 acres US atoll 224 northeast of American Samoa, and that it is part of Tokelau, a three atoll New Zealand settlement of 1,500 locals living on just four sq. mls. of dispersed isles. 1856 an American, Eli Hutchinson Jennings, came to Olohega and claimed the name from an Englishman whom he said he had located.

It' been devastating Tokelau for over a hundred years. However, in a 1980 New Zealand agreement, the right to Olohega was abolished, while Washington waived its right to Tokelau. The Tokelau people, however, kept on shouting softly after Olohega's comeback, and the theme has again produced the famous Pacific band Te Vaka, which sings about it in the track Haloa Olohega (Poor Olohega).

Opetaia Foa'i, part of Tokelauan, said Olohega's position was very important to the locals and he wanted to discuss it more. "He said the Tokelauans themselves made the definitive ruling to overturn the claim on Olohega (Swains Island). "This contract, transcribed in Tokelauan, was initialled by the then heads of Atolle and the New Zealand administrator and US ambassador to New Zealand who travelled to Tokelau to endorse the deed.

" Tatarsfield said that one of New Zealand's then leading global law expert, the deceased Chris Beeby, said that Tokelau's claims to Olohega were feeble and would not be successful in an internat. "That is why New Zealand recommended the Tokelau lodges to revoke their right to Olohega so that the US could revoke its right to the other three otolls and thus affirm Tokelau's cosmopolitan law.

"Tokelau was thus able to make full use of its precious fishery stocks. "He cited a New Zealand official of his day, Frank Corner, who told the Tokelauers that the contract to be concluded had terminated New Zealand's and the USA's claim on each other's isles. Mr Tattersfield said the agreement provided for continued co-operation between Tokelau and American Samoa, leading to hands-on co-operation on issues such as the provision of fuels and Tokelau's accessibility to Olohega's coir resource.

Said that the story of Olohega shows no record of servants taken from this atoll, "though it documents how Jennings assisted Peruvian slavers to take servants from the other three atolls".