Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Nauru’s State of Emergency extended for another 21 days

Posted at 07:13 on 30 July, 2010 UTC

Nauru’s caretaker President has today extended a State of Emergency for another 21 days.

The extension marks a six-month long political deadlock following two general elections which failed to return a decisive result.

Parliament hasn’t sat in nearly three weeks after caretaker President Marcus Stephen adjourned it after sacking the Speaker, Aloysius Amwano, claiming he was stalling attempts to elect a president and resolve the impasse.

The government’s spokesperson, Rod Henshaw, says the state of emergency is no obstacle to keeping things running in Nauru.

“At least things are moving now, there’s a port development which is underway, a major development where the phosphate ships up to 45,000 tons can come in, all of that sort of thing, the airline is being re-serviced and the aircraft is under a major service which could not have been done had not the SOE been invoked, all these sort of things and they’re fairly major ones but just the basic things, paying salaries, keeping hospitals and schools open, that’s what important at the present time.”