Pacific Media Watch

24 August 2010

VANUATU: Digicel ordered to pay with pigs for mobile phone offence

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6993

PORT VILA: The chiefs on the island of Pentecost in Vanuatu have demanded 10 tusked pigs from the telecoms provider Digicel.

This comes after Digicel was deemed by the chiefs to have damaged an historical site on the island when it started building a mobile phone tower.

The director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, Marcelin Ambong, says 10 tusked pigs is the highest penalty the chiefs can impose for wrongdoing.

He says the pigs are an offering to restore the peace following the violation of their historical site at Langare.

Digicel has agreed to remove the tower, replant trees and to install a panel to inform visitors about Langare.

Ambong says it’s a lesson for foreign investors to respect Vanuatu custom. - Radio NZ International/Pacific Media Watch

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