The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 9

The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday, August 2, 1988 Page 9 Rare gorillas give up role as steak fillets to become tourist attractions "We want people to come here to look at the gorillas," said Mkpe, whose face had lit up at the arrival of visitors who drove the 10 hours from Lagos, the nation's capital, to this hamlet, which is found on few road maps. Last year, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation proposed to villagers that the gorillas could be more valuable as tourist attractions in the wild than as steak fillets on restaurant tables. The foundation, a private group, paid for this year's gorilla search. In Nigeria, wild game, known as bush meat, fetches higher prices than meat from domestic animals. For many men here, hunting goril they just can't talk," he concluded.

So far, one other village, Bamba, has also instituted a hunting ban. In July, tourism officials visited the area. This year. Federal officials are to consider a proposal to make the gorilla refuge a national park. The Nigerian authorities note with interest that in Rwanda, guided tours to see mountain gorillas have helped make tourism the nation's third largest source of foreign exchange.

The impulse to protect Nigeria's gorillas reflects a new interest in conservation a concern more often associated with East Africa. The conservation foundation, which las, duiker and mandrills represents their sole source of cash income. Last August, the men of Kanyang met one Sunday morning at their traditional hilltop rendezvous. By the end of the day, they had adopted an experimental hunting ban. "The village itself voluntarily banned hunting," said Lee White, a British zoologist and consultant to the conservation foundation.

"The young men hope to earn money as guides and porters." To enforce the ban, the conservation foundation hired as wardens the town's two most skilful trackers, Osang and Mkpe. To date, they have caught four poachers, including one prominent village elder. The became active two years ago, recently began a drive to raise money for conservation activities in five Nigerian game parks and reserves. "In the past two or three years, there has been a 100 per cent increase in wildlife conservation in Nigeria," said John Oates, an American zoologist who has studied primates in Nigeria since 1967. "Because Nigeria is such a leader in Africa, and because its environment has become so much abused, it will be encouraging for the continent if they can save the gorillas," said the zoologist, who teaches anthropology at Hunter College, New York.

The New York Times gorillas survive in the steep mountains here 30 years after they were thought extinct in Nigeria, one of Africa's most industrial and populous countries. Last April, an international survey team published the findings of a two-month search. Four bands of lowland gorillas, totalling 150, are making a last stand in the mountain rainforest here the last stretch of untouched primary rainforest in this nation of 107 million people. Scientists warn that the rediscovery of the gorillas may have come in time only to see their destruction. "Without doubt, the gorillas are under intense pressure from hunting, wrote the authors, Sandy Hussein cedes as 'sole legitimate representative' hultz hints at ostage talks etback for 33LC move poachers lost their guns and were fined the equivalent of $US15.

In the meantime, the trackers say their new role has given them a new perspective on the gorillas. "We like to watch the gorillas feeding in the trees," Mkpe, a wiry 23-year-old, recounted recently as village elders gathered to listen to his gorilla tales. "Sometimes, they pluck the fruit from a tree. Or the mother gives her breast to her baby. "In the afternoon, when the sun is very hot, they rest," he continued.

"They search each other for lice. The young ones play and chase each other up and down trees. "Really, there is no difference between gorillas and human beings of Palestinians and Samaria (Israel's biblical description of the West Bank). King Hussein's announcement marks a substantial setback for Mr Shimon Peres, Israel's Foreign Minister and leader of the Labour Party, who has been banking on the Jordanian monarch continuing to speak for Palestinians in the occupied territories. Mr Shamir, leader of the nationalist Likud bloc, and Mr Peres, bitter political rivals, will face each other in a general election by November.

Differing approaches to peace Mr Peres is willing to give up territory, Mr Shamir is not are likely to dominate the campaign. Mr Shultz, the US Secretary of State who has been engaging in a faltering Middle East peace initiative, said King Hussein was still an "integral" part of the search for peace in the region. The king's statement was the culmination of a long struggle between the PLO and Jordan over who should represent the Palestinians of the West Bank, since the 1974 Rabat Arab summit which designated the PLO as the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinians. The Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule in the occupied territories this year helped provide the catalyst for this important shift in the Jordanian position. ir By JAMES BROOKE KANYANG (Nigeria), Monday: For years, the outside world thought that gorillas were extinct here, but when Jacob Osang and Napoleon Mkpe spied an adult gorilla in the thick rainforest, they saw $US200 worth of walking restaurant meat.

Expert trackers, the two hunters quickly recouped their investment in a crude shotgun, its barrel fashioned from the steering column of a Land-Rover. Early in the 1980s, a new paved road was pushed past the edge of this remote village of thatched huts and cassava fields. Soon, rumours reached the outside world that US captive was a spy, pro-Iranian party claims BEIRUT, Monday: An American abducted in south Lebanon in February while supervising a United Nations peacekeeping force was on a spying mission at the time, a senior member in the Islamic Party of God has claimed. The member of the pro-Iranian group. Sheikh Abbas Musawi, said Lieutenant-Colonel William Hig-gins "was on a mission of espionage" against the sheikh's organisation.

Sheikh Musawi's remarks, made in the town of Mashghara, in south-eastern Lebanon, came 48 hours after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning Colonel Higgins's kidnapping and demanding his immediate release. Colonel Higgins, 43, was kidnapped on February 17 He was driving outside the port of Tyre at the time. Since his abduction, the United States and the UN have denied claims that he was a spy. The Party of God is financed and equipped by Iran. Sheikh Musawi's remarks dampened speculation about the imminent release of the hostages in Lebanon.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Javier Perez de Cuellar, said on Friday that he was optimistic about the chances for Colonel Higgins's release. The New York Times I A WASHINGTON, Monday: The US Secretary of State, Mr Shultz, hinted strongly last night that Iran had responded to American diplomatic messages and laid out a plan for normalisation of relations between the two countries. Mr Shultz said he was willing to travel to New York to meet the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Akbar Velayati, who is attending cease-fire talks with Iraq at the United Nations, if that was what is required to put US-Iranian relations back on a more even keel. Mr Shultz's comments, during a television interview, made it clear that Iranian demands for an assets settlement with the US before the hostages could be freed were not insurmountable. "We have to separate the humanitarian question of releasing hostages, which should be done, from all of these financial and other considerations." He added that the claims tribunal in The Hague, which was set up in the wake of the 1979-1980 US-Iranian hostage drama, had the power to arrange "the disposition of asset and financial This is the diplomat's way of saying that the US is willing to talk about hostages and money, but on different tracks.

The US's main diplomatic thrust in the Middle East at present appears to be to secure a Gulf cease-fire at the UN and use Iran's more co-operative attitude 6 His decision poses a dilemma for the US and Israel, which had sought to use Jordan as an interlocutor in dealing with the Palestinians and the PLO.9 sentatives, seeing it as a symbolic device to perpetuate, at the expense of the Palestinians, Jordan's claims to the West Bank. Israel and US leaders have reacted predictably to King Hussein's announcement that he was formally disengaging from the West Bank. Mr Yitzhak Shamir, the hardline Israeli Prime Minister who claims much of the occupied territories as part of the historic land of Israel, said the Jordanian monarch was no longer interested in compromise with Israel. Mr Shamir, who could barely conceal his glee, said the king had given up hope of a complete Israeli withdrawal from Judaea Ilarcourt, a Briton, Ibrahim Ina-horo, a Nigerian, and Kelly Stewart, an American. "We calculate that perhaps twice as many are killed each year as are Indeed, on each side of the new road here, wide spans of land have been cleared of rainforest.

Cultivation of bananas, cassavas and oil palms now reaches up the lower flanks of the gorillas' mountain refuges. Desire for development is great in Kanyang, one of three villages that claim ownership to the gorillas' rainforest retreat. In recent months, a new approach to development has won converts among the 700 Boki tribespeople living here. West Bank to PLO dan, on the East Bank of the River Jordan, and in the West Bank. Previously, discussion about the future of the Palestinians had focused on the possible establishment of an "autonomous region" in the West Bank in confederation with Jordan.

The king, however, has now abrogated Jordan's longstanding sovereign claim to negotiate the future of the Israeli-occupied territories on behalf of the residents there. His decision poses a dilemma for the United States and Israel, which had sought to use Jordan as an interlocutor in dealing with the Palestinians and the PLO. The Israeli and US demand was that King Hussein should engage in direct negotiations on the future of the West Bank, seized by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 war. King Hussein unequivocally conceded Palestinian demands for an independent State in the West Bank, which was administered by Jordan until 1967. "Jordan is not Palestine," he said, in a sharp retort to right-wing spokesmen in Israel and in the West who have long asserted that Jordan should be a substitute Palestinian State.

The king's speech, symbolically delivered before a portrait of his grandfather, Abdallah, who united the East and West Banks of the River Jordan under Hashemite rule in 1950, sought to explain SI itx XXX Jt; sx- i5 xxX -XH xxx JS sxs XX XiSfx S. xx x. -x Ju5tU If 11 1 l(0)j i to pave the way for the release of the nine or so American hostages being held by Islamic fundamentalists in the Lebanon. Mr Shultz hinted that Iran had responded to a US message seeking improved relations through third parties saying "there are constant" responses. He added, however, that what the US desired now was an "authoritative channel" with which to begin the serious dialogue.

Mr Shultz said that, while he was willing to meet the Iranian Foreign Minister, this was not necessarily the right way to proceed. He added, however: "Wc have stated our policy and if the conditions emerge, we'll do that." The US wants the hostages freed, a commitment to oppose support for terrorism, and a cease-fire in the Gulf before resuming normal relations with Tehran. Meanwhile, the UN peace talks to end the Gulf war remained stalled at the weekend while the Iranians tried to decide whether to yield to Iraq's demand for negotiation face to face. An Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister was quoted in Abu Dhabi as saying that there was "no obstacle" to direct negotiation. But the Iranian representatives at the UN declined either to confirm or deny it.

The Guardian HPY084N MIDDLE EAST By ANTONY WALKER. Herald Correspondent AMMAN, Monday: King Hussein of Jordan's historic decision to cede his country's claim over the West Bank to the Palestine Liberation Organisation as the "sole, legitimate, representative" of the Palestinian people has added a dramatic new dimension to negotiations over the future of the Israeli-occupied territories. The king's sombre announcement on Jordanian television last night has almost certainly torpedoed the latest US peace initiative, which was based on an expectation that the Jordanian monarch would speak for the 1.2 million Palestinians resident in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. King Hussein has sought to project the PLO, which the US and Israel have refused to deal with on the grounds that it is a "terrorist on to centre stage, should any peace moves get under way. "We respect the wish of the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, to secede from us in an independent Palestinian State," the king said in the broadcast, seen both in Jor X5 b.

tions of Bermuda and Trinidad and Tobago were sprinkled across the courtroom like pizza toppings. Everything from the case of Knowles versus the Zoological Society of London to that apparent legal sensation of 1943, Second Consolidated Trust versus the Ceylon Amalgamated Tea and Rubber Estates, came into play as the Government strived to prove that half a parliament can be more than half a parliament even if it is only half a parliament. Last week the Parliament sat with only 23 MPs present yet Justice Ward is also scheduled to hear a second petition on Wednesday which challenges the right of Parliament to expel the members under the Vacation of Members Seat Act 1 983 Mr Sope said if he is unsuccessful in this challenge he would stand again in the by-election for his Port Vila seat, but not as a member of the ruling Vanua'aku Pati which he helped found with Father Lini 15 years ago. Offl 1 King Hussein respects wish of PLO to secede. recent careful moves aimed at improving relations with the PLO in advance of an imminent visit to Amman by Mr Yasser Arafat, chairman of the PLO.

These moves included the dissolution at the weekend of Jordan's Parliament and the abandonment last week of Jordanian sponsorship of an economic development program in the West Bank. The PLO saw the so-called West Bank Development Plan as a Jordanian attempt to curry favour among West Bank Palestinians at the expense of its own influence in the occupied territories. The PLO has long objected to the composition of Jordan's Parliament with its West Bank repre 4 4 -x x- authority, the Concise Oxford Dictionary, which the court was told defined a majority as more than half But as sections, paragraphs and articles of the Constitutions of the Cook Islands, Nigeria and even Fiji were bandied around, inside the courtroom and on its veranda were gathered the supporters of the rebel politician challenging the Government, Mr Barak Sope. They were a reminder to the Government that whatever the court ruling, the political row between its leader and Mr Sope is far from resolved. warns Lini combined with Mr Sope's faction, would command a majority.

Mr Sope has said that in that case he would move a vote of no confidence in the Government and form a new coalition Government with the UM P. The other alternative for the Government is to attempt to return to Parliament and try again to form a majority. If it fails it could then call a general election. name and number lists, and even currency conversion to save you time and money. Similarly, the HP-17B is a hard-working algebraic-entry calculator.

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And HP Solve to answer them. Your personalised system for quickly solving equations without programming. Start at the top with HP Business Consultant II. The ultimate, offering business graphics capabilities, a TEXT application for -x i fx HP-17B BUSINESS Picture by REUTER More than 2,000 residents of Mexico's Ciudad Juarez held a march on Saturday night to protest against the shooting of three people by police on July 23. Mr Manuel Gomez Martinez, the only survivor of the car shooting, spoke to the gathering after a silent march through the town.

In other protests, the opposition presidential candidate, Mr Manuel Clouthier, yesterday addressed thousands of cheering supporters in Mexico City's Chapultepec Park, urging Mexicans to fight to have July 6 elections annulled and a new vote held after what he called massive fraud by the ruling party. Vanuatu court grapples with baffling equation miMf-mt, iiPr.t. cifHs: 1 11 HP BUSINESS CONSULTANT fg Im? Urn t4 Cv 'if 1 v- 'J f.f-. ur: i i ii ii ri I 1 rr '-r' hi f-" 'i i i '111 JWIP" 1 Jf IBs- By MARY-LOUISE O'CALLAGHAN, Herald Correspondent PORT VILA, Monday: With torrential rain falling outside, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Vanuatu sat today to consider the vexed question of when a majority is not a majority. Sparked by the Government's contention that 23 out of 46 constitutes a simple majority, the case sent Port Vila's learned lawyers scurrying for an answer deep into the hallowed traditions of the British Empire.

Precedents from the Constitu X. V' X'S xxjv'-x imH-'i -fifffil declared this a simple majority of the 46-seat House. Now it has been called to defend its arithmetic in court, a task that today proved difficult for the Attorney-General, Mr Silas Hawka. The bewigged Chief Justice, Gordon Ward, was prompted to ask at one stage of Mr Hawka: "I would like you to tell me what other meaning you would attach to majority other than majority?" In the end the answer to this obscure question may be as a simple as the majority itself and for all the pomp and circumstance could be decided on that grand If the Government loses tomorrow's case but wins Wednesday's, it would be possible for it to hold another session of Parliament and legally expel Mr Sope and the four other rebel Government MPs and the 18 members of the Opposition UMP. However, if it loses both cases the Lini Government, whose 23 seats includes that of the Speaker, would then lose control of the Parliament as the Opposition, iJIH If i 1 I 1 I I CSbirfMUbiJI i tmmi f4 faiaJ fari fcsi kid I I 1 1 I 1 lii.

i Ui lTji "Jl-IL 1 ii A HP-27S scn-NTinc ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC HP-28S 1 1 a. iilllj Mnaw? tmJ ffsnrpwPw mJ MbJf (hmJt idbi wtm UUU I.1 ,1 .1 I'll use force to take my seat, Sope HEWLETT PACKARD For further information and the name of your nearest Hewlett Packard dealer phone our Customer Information Centre (008) 033821 (STD free) Ask for Department 12. Solutions books include: Real Estate, BankuiK and Leasing Business Finance and Accounting Marketing and SaJes PrrsoniJ Investment and Tax Plannuig Aigrbra and College Maths Calculus Electrical Engineering Probability and Statistics Vectors and Matrices From Page 1 court, Mr Peter Coombe, argued that a simple majority must be half plus at least one member, that is 24 MPs. But the Attorney-General of Vanuatu, Mr Silas Hawka, appearing for the Government, argued that standing orders vided for a session to continue at the discretion of the Speaker if no-one brought the lack of a quorum to the Speaker's attention..