Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), Thursday 14 January 1988, page 5


Polish Solidarity leader Mr Lech Walesa, right, with West Germany's Foreign Minister, Mr Hans-Dietrich Genscher, in Warsaw on Tuesday. In the background is Solidarity's national spokesman, Mr Janusz Onyszkiewicz. Mr Walesa skipped work for the meeting when he was denied unpaid

leave by the Gdansk shipyard that employs him.

NEW CALEDONIA

2 drown, 80 hurt in Cyclone Anne

NOUMEA, New Caledonia, Wednesday (Reutcr). — Two people drowned and about 80 were injured today as a cyclone raked the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia with torrential rain and winds of up to 180km/h, police said.

Cyclonc Anne, the strongest freak typhoon to hit the territory in the past 12 years, broke over the north-eastern coast of the island before spreading along the east coast.

Police said two people who tried to cross a flooded river in

the south of the island during the night were swept away and

drowned.

Weather officials said the cyclone blew itself out by the end of the morning after covering two-thirds of the territory.

Police and rescue services said the most serious damage was caused by flooding, which swept away huts, crops and topsoil of indigenous Melancsians living in coastal villages.

All international flights to New Caledonia have been cancelled.