Dr Feleti Sevele

Pacific island leaders Thursday agreed to maintain their hardline stance against military-ruled Fiji but said they would keep the door open to dialogue with the major regional player. After two days of talks in idyllic settings in Vanuatu, leaders from the 15-other Pacific Islands Forum countries said Fiji would remain suspended from the region's most important grouping until it moved towards democracy. "The current decisions remain in force," Tonga's Prime Minister Feleti Sevele said at the...Read Full Story

Tonga government has agreed to deploy 275 soldiers to Afghanistan over the next two years at the request of the British government. Prime Minister Feleti Sevele on Wednesday put the motion before the nation's Parliament, which voted 22-0 in favor of the deployment. An initial contingent of 55 marines will be deployed in November, the first of four six-month rotations of 55 troops who will help guard Britain's Camp Bastion in Helmand Province. The troops will be under British command and...Read Full Story

At least 66 people were feared dead Friday after a ferry disaster in Tonga which the prime minister described as "devastating" for the tiny Pacific kingdom. As grieving relatives gathered at the wharf in the capital Nuku'alofa, singing hymns for comfort and expressing anger the ageing vessel was allowed to sail, Prime Minister Feleti Sevele said hope was fading for the missing. "The hopes for the rest are not promising, unfortunately," Sevele told journalists at a meeting of Pacific leaders...Read Full Story

A total of 66 people including many women and children are now feared dead from a ferry disaster in the Pacific island kingdom of Tonga, rescuers said Friday. There were 53 survivors, two bodies have been recovered and at least another 64 people were missing, search and rescue co-ordinator John Dickson said after a revised manifest increased the number on board from 79 to 119. There were six foreigners on board the 34-year-old Princess Ashika, including British, German, French and Japanese...Read Full Story

The captain of the Tongan ferry that sank leaving 93 missing and presumed dead said Monday he was pressured into sailing the vessel even though authorities knew the ship had problems. Tonga's Prime Minister Feleti Sevele and Transport Minister Paul Karalus have consistently stated that the vessel was fully seaworthy, was fully certificated for the service and met all international maritime standards. No survivors have been found since an initial rescue of 54 people and the recovery of two...Read Full Story