qemu-ppc64-static: guest fails to fork

Host: Ubuntu Precise amd64
Guest: Debian Sid (ports) ppc64

# qemu-debootstrap --no-check-gpg --arch=ppc64 sid ppc64 http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian
I: Running command: debootstrap --arch ppc64 --foreign --no-check-gpg sid ppc64 http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian
[...]
I: Running command: chroot ppc64 /debootstrap/debootstrap --second-stage
/debootstrap/debootstrap: 359: /debootstrap/debootstrap: Cannot fork

Also:

$ sudo chroot ppc64
I have no name!@aspire:/# ll
bash: fork: Invalid argument
I have no name!@aspire:/# ulimit -a
core file size (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority (-e) 25
file size (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals (-i) 21883
max locked memory (kbytes, -l) 64
max memory size (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files (-n) 1024
pipe size (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority (-r) 0
stack size (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes (-u) 21883
virtual memory (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks (-x) unlimited
I have no name!@aspire:/# exit
exit

Host:
$ ulimit -a
core file size (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority (-e) 25
file size (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals (-i) 21883
max locked memory (kbytes, -l) 64
max memory size (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files (-n) 1024
pipe size (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority (-r) 0
stack size (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes (-u) 21883
virtual memory (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks (-x) unlimited

I don't think it is a host limitation but I'm not sure. Apologies if this has been assigned to the wrong package but I do not know what else could be the cause.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: qemu-user-static 1.0.50-2012.03-0ubuntu2.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-33.48~precise1-generic 3.8.13.11
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-33-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.6
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Nov 25 17:11:05 2013
Dependencies:

InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20130820.1)
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: qemu-linaro
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)