It’ll be a mistake, warns Winston Peters; Why ‘Chief’ cancelled Fiji visit

Alexander Downer... change of tack

There is no plan by Australia to up its campaign against Fiji’s military government by imposing trade sanctions, foreign minister Alexander Downer told journalists after the one-day meeting of foreign ministers who are members of the Pacific Islands Forum in Vanuatu last month.

“There are some measures we have introduced at this stage and I think quite appropriately we haven’t threatened to expand those measures. I mean it’s always been difficult with sanctions. You don’t want to harm the ordinary people of the country, you want to target the people responsible for the bad behaviour. So we are not planning to impose trade sanctions on the whole of Fiji.”

Downer said this doesn’t mean he will stop his criticisms of the Fijian regime.

The island nation, he said, must realise that repeated coups damage not only the Fijian economy and its people, but the entire region too.

“There have been a lot of hard words exchanged and we continue to hold the views that we’ve always had about coups, if I might say so repeated coups in Fiji.

“Over the last 20 years, they’ve had four and we’d like to see an end to all of this.

“I think it doesn’t just damage the Fijians themselves but it damages the whole of the Pacific region. But I mean the status quo is the status quo, the coups have happened and we have to all contribute to getting Fiji back on the path of democracy and the international norms of human rights as quickly as possible.”

Downer said the international community might just have to accept the insistence by Fiji that military commander Frank Bainimarama may not give up the prime minister position.

“The interim government doesn’t show any signs of wanting to do that at this stage.

“Obviously, we would prefer that to happen. We would prefer the restoration of democracy very soon and I think there’s very strong support for the restoration of democracy very soon. But the interim government is making it very clear that it doesn’t see Commodore Bainimarama standing down until there are elections.

“There’s not much we can do about it of course, but I would like the EPG Report to be accepted by the Fijians but we have to wait and see what they do as time goes on.”

Signalling a more conciliatory stance, Downer said Australia understood the need for a census to be done in Fiji before fresh elections could be held. He said it was encouraging to see the interim regime becoming sensitive to reports of human rights abuses.

“There are grave concerns about human rights in Fiji and the Fijian so-called interim foreign minister made the point that they were in the process of addressing those issues.

“It remains to be seen whether anything would eventuate from that. But obviously it’s an issue that they’re becoming sensitive about in Fiji and rightly so.”

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It’ll be a mistake, warns Winston Peters

Winston Peters... mistake to ignore the goodwill that’s behind this EPG report.

Foreign ministers went straight into a media conference at the end of their one-day meeting at the Le Lagon Resort in Vanuatu.

After presenting the outcome statement, meeting chair, Papua New Guinea’s foreign minister Paul Tienstein, began the conference by inviting his colleagues for some opening remarks.

Winston Peters, Foreign Minister, New Zealand: I think this is a landmark day for the Forum. Our job was made more easy to accomplish by an excellent report from the EPG and it is now, as a result of this report and outcome today for the interim government of Fiji to set a timeframe to restore democracy to that country.

Sato Kilman, Foreign Minister, Vanuatu (and EPG chair): On the part of the EPG, all I can say is that we are very pleased with the decision by the Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers to adopt the report that we presented. The report basically reflected what we saw and heard when we went to Fiji.

Reporter: What about the EPG recommendation for Bainimarama to step down and soldiers to return to barracks?
Kilman: If you read the outcome statement, it talks about a joint working committee. That will be addressed by the committee.

Reporter: So was the two-year timeframe agreed upon?
Peters: Agreed to by Fiji? No we can’t say it was agreed to by Fiji. The timeframe has been put to Fiji for them to work out an answer with the joint working group that will report to the EPG, that will report to the ministers.

Reporter: In three months?
Tienstein: Yes.

Reporter: What if Fiji still maintains its three-year timeframe. Did this meeting decide on a possible response?
Tienstein: We have decided to let the joint working committee address that kind of questions. They will be reporting to us and I’m sure they will continue dialogue with Fiji. Of course, Fiji has got a timeframe of 36 months but we believe 36 months is too long. We believe we can bring Fiji back to normality within 18 months to 2 years. But where there is divergence, it’s a matter for the joint working committee to work out the details with Fiji. But we will continue to engage with Fiji.

Sato: If I may add something to that. While Fiji sets a 36-month period, they’ve also indicated they are prepared to look at a new timeline and we hope that that will be the job of the joint working committee who will come up with some practical propositions that Fiji can accept.

Reporter: Do you think the interim government in Fiji will take this seriously, or will they after the 3 months push it for another 3 months, and so on?
Peters: That will be a mistake. If you look at the situation now for Fiji internationally, that will be a mistake on the part of the Commodore.

Reporter: Why is that?
Peters: Well, there are enormous changes happening to the Fiji economy occassioned by the international response. I think we’ve got to be positive here and that’s the tenor of this report rather than being negative. So it’s over to the interim government to respond to this forum. But I think, I can’t speak for my colleagues but looking at the economic and social circumstances in Fiji, that will be a mistake to ignore the goodwill that’s behind this report.

Reporter: Is there inconsistency in your treatment of Fiji and your inaction on Tonga which had clampdown on pro-democracy activists?
Tienstein: I don’t think so. I think we have been consistent in our actions. There are two different situations. The situation in Fiji is unique and we’ve handled it well and we’ve allowed the EPG report to be the guide for us.

Reporter: Will the Forum Secretariat continue to remain in Suva?
Tienstein: We have not talked about relocating the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. The man who is charge at the Secretariat is still there and he loves Fiji and he’ll still be there.

Reporter: Did you talk about Solomon Islands?
Tienstein: We kept our focus on Fiji, and we shouldn’t be dragging in another country.
 

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Why ‘Chief’ cancelled Fiji visit

Sir Michael Somare addresses

So what led to the cancellation of Sir Michael Somare’s (second from left) four-day visit to Fiji late March? As typical of such public about-turns, no one in Waigani or Suva was willing to go on record on the sudden postponement.

Yet investigations by this magazine showed that the decision was made by the Grand Chief himself, who also happens to be the chair of the Pacific Islands Forum.

We were also told that Somare received two important telephone calls about the proposed visit: John Howard of Australia and his Trans-Tasman counterpart Helen Clark personally telephoned Somare to urge him to postpone the visit.

“Both felt the timing was not right for a sitting chair of the Forum to be visiting a member that had just lost its elected leader in a coup,” a source said.

“It may be acceptable if Somare was visiting Fiji to participate in the annual Mara/Somare golf tournament, but the fact that he’s also the Forum chair added a totally new meaning to the proposed tour.”

This magazine was informed Somare was briefed on the decision taken in Vanuatu by Forum Foreign Affairs Ministers and told that it might be prudent to allow time for the ministers’ decision to proceed.The close affinity between the Mara and the Somare families is public knowledge, and sources say the PNG leader felt his presence was needed in the annual golf tournament that he and his close friend, Fiji’s former president, the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara started.

“He also thought that he might just use his visit to persuade coup leader Frank Bainimarama to give way to a civilian prime minister,” said another source.

“But his aides asked him that it might be best to let the foreign ministers handle the Fiji situation for now as his intervention may be sought if the ministers’ solution doesn’t work.”