Tokelau bleibt bei NZ. Unabhängigkeitsreferendum knapp gescheitert.
Spiegel

WELLINGTON (AP)--Voters in Tokelau - all 789 of them - were due to start casting ballots Saturday in a referendum that could make the clutch of atolls in the South Pacific one of the world's smallest self-governing territories.
The microstate of 12 square kilometers, seized by Britain in 1889 and handed to New Zealand to administer in 1926, is voting for the second time on whether to fully cast off colonialism's shackles.
In February last year, a U.N.-mandated independence referendum failed by 34 votes to reach the two-thirds majority needed to end colonial status. Most of the 581 voters elected to remain a New Zealand colony instead of opting for self-governance in free association with New Zealand.
Activists called for a fresh ballot months later - and have since increased eligible local voter numbers to 789, up more than 200 on last year. Only locals can vote, with more than 8,000 Tokelauans living abroad, most of them in New Zealand.
Election officials and U.N. observers will travel by boat to collect ballots next week on the isolated isolated islands, and a result is to be declared Oct. 25.
Former Tokelau administrator, New Zealander Neil Walter, said a "yes" vote this time will mean no real change for the Polynesian islanders who effectively have been self-governing for several years.
"Tokelau already is running itself with New Zealand support," he said.
If the ballot approves independence, a draft treaty of free association with New Zealand giving Tokelau access to New Zealand aid "locks in for all time - or until such time as they want change - a guarantee of New Zealand's continuing support," Walter told The Associated Press.
Independence would open doors to more international aid, especially the European Union, he said.
If last year's vote had succeeded, Tokelau's leaders had planned to seek membership of the United Nations, British Commonwealth, Pacific Islands Forum and the E.U.'s Africa-Caribbean-Pacific small island states' group.
They had also opened informal contact with China through that nation's embassy in Samoa.
Tokelau is one of 16 non-self-governing territories left on the U.N. decolonization list, which also includes Gibraltar, Western Sahara and Guam.
Walter said "there never has been" pressure from the United Nations to complete the decolonization process in Tokelau.
Tokelau, comprising the three atolls of Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo, lies midway between New Zealand and Hawaii, about 500 kilometers north of Samoa.
The territory has no airport or sea port, and is linked to the outside world only by telephone and cargo ship.
U.N. and New Zealand officials have said the island group could never be a self-supporting independent state.
19.10.2007