Laisa Taga
If there was one thing which would have benefited from the farewell Pacific visit by UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura, it was this: Fiji’s proposed site for World Heritage Listing, the old capital, Levuka.

Those working on getting Levuka recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee were banking on Mr Matsuura. His visit would have raised Levuka’s profile and also the level of awareness of the old capital.

For who better to do that than UNESCO’s top brass coming all the way from Paris (thanks to a private jet provided by a Qatar millionaire). And then seeing first-hand Fiji’s preparations and the site itself.

Imagine all the publicity that would have been generated and the wealth of up-to-date information Mr Matsuura would have acquired during the short visit.

“It would have been nice to show the site to people of that level and the publicity it will generate,” says Derek Cleland, policy heritage officer with Fiji’s ministry of heritage and culture.

But imagine their disappointment when they were told on the eve of Mr Matsuura’s visit that he was no longer coming.

The bearer of the bad news, UNESCO’s Pacific office head based in Apia, Samoa, Visesio Pongi, flew to Fiji to relay the message. He said the UNESCO chief was no longer coming due to “reasons beyond his control”.

Government sources say he did not elaborate on those reasons when he spoke with the Fiji National Commission for UNESCO.

Whether he told the interim Fiji Government via its interim education minister of the real reason no one knows.

But there was disappointment all around. National commission members were angered.

“People of Fiji need to know the real reasons why he cancelled his visit and particularly when it was last minute,” LETTER FROM SUVA was told.

“It is his first visit to Fiji and also his last and everyone was looking forward to it.

“We don’t deserve such a treatment. It is a slap in the face for Fiji. We’re one of those countries that pay our annual contributions on time and we don’t deserve to be told the last minute that he is not coming.

“If it is anything to do with the current political situation in the country, then say so. But just don’t tell us it is ‘reasons beyond his control’. We deserve better.”

Another said: “As a matter of fact, it does not reflect well on the director-general. He needs to state the reasons because the people of Fiji need to know.”

So what is the real reason? LETTER FOR SUVA has been told that the cancellation was due to pressure exerted from the United Nations HQ in New York.

This follows advice presumably provided by their country office in Suva.

This advice it is understood claims the visit by Mr Matsuura to Fiji would be seen as condoning the 2006 coup and the forceful removal of the elected government.

But UNESCO, however, was understood to be basing the trip on its mission of promoting peace and reconciliation.

Any chance of talking to Fiji’s interim prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama, the director-general would impress on him the need to hold an election and promote peace.

One Fiji source said: “It is amazing the double standards here. Yasser Arafat with his reputation of killing thousands of people was welcomed at the UNESCO General Assembly some years back, so what’s wrong with visiting Fiji?”

The director-general completes his term next year, so there’s no chance of him returning.

Whatever the reason he did not visit, one thing is for sure. It is a huge loss to Levuka’s campaign for listing as a world heritage site.