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Australia, US, UK accused of attempting to incite mutiny in Fiji

Daily Telegraph: 

A TOP Fiji soldier has accused Australia, US and Britain of trying to spark a mutiny in the lead-up to last year’s coup.  Land Force Commander Colonel Pita Driti yesterday told troops in his country that he was jointly approached by former Australian High Commissioner Jennifer Rawlinson, US Ambassador Larry Dinger and British High Commissioner Roger Skyes in the lead-up to the coup.Speaking on New Zealand radio today, Col Driti accused the countries of trying to persuade him to overthrow military strongman Commodore Frank Bainimarama in the days before the coup.

Strong words from the Minister for Courtenay Place, too:

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters today dismissed claims his country was involved the alleged move against Commodore Bainimarama. “I don’t know whether other countries made an approach, but I can tell you that New Zealand did not have involvement,” Mr Peters said…  Mr Peters also attacked Col Driti’s speech to troops yesterday in which he said he wanted to close the Australian and New Zealand High Commissions in Fiji.

I don’t know what to believe here.  The US, UK and Australia have admitted that a meeting took place, but deny calling for a mutiny.  The Fijian military doesn’t exactly seem like a reliable source.  However, if the conduct of the meeting and the message described is accurate, then this was a clumsy and heavy-handed attempt at intervention by the West.  It seems that Western leaders have little understanding of Fijian society.  It is also worrying that Western leaders (including Helen Clark have called for a popular uprising, if not a military mutiny, given the potential for violence in Fiji as a result of the coup.  Surely stability and security are more important short-term goals, and we should concentrate on encouraging a return to constitutional rule as soon as possible, rather than potentially disastrous resistance against the military leadership.

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Posted by Phil on Friday, April 13th, 2007 at 4:34 pm.

8 Responses to “Australia, US, UK accused of attempting to incite mutiny in Fiji”

“It seems that Western leaders have little understanding of Fijian society.”

What are the differences between Western and Fijian society?

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Left by A man on April 13th, 2007

There’s also the possibility that this is a “Man Who Would be King” scheme. There’s a long tradition of white soldiers trying to take over small islands and make themselves dictators.

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Left by A.E. on April 14th, 2007

William: I’m not an expert on Fijian society. But attitudes towards protest, mutiny etc are very different, as is the relationship between the civilian government, tribal leaders and, most importantly, the military. If Western diplomats tried to incite a mutiny, they didn’t consider the context or the offense they might cause.

Adam: Well there’s more of a tradition of that with native Fijian soldiers. But I know what you mean – NZ colonial administrators often behaved like mini-dictators in the islands, with little oversight by elected officials at home. I don’t think the combined diplomats of the US, UK and Australia wanted to be dictators of Fiji though!

The modern equivalent of what you describe is probably the conmen who exploit weak island states and the vanity of some island politicians. Like the American “court jester” of Tonga…

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Left by Phil on April 14th, 2007

Whats new?? I think it was Fiji (or possibly the Solomons PM) who accused PM John Howard of paying $60.00AUD to a 60 year old retired soldier to assasinate the him.

Does anyone actually believe that? This 60 year old was quite obviously being used as a political football do to other disagreements at the time.

It is interesting when you look at how and what various countries ‘military’ forces were developed for. Fiji’s military is used to ‘police’ its people internally, not defend from external threats.

In the West for the most part we have moved away from this. The military is turned outward and the police service is inward.

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Left by Eric Flis on April 14th, 2007

Yeah I think that was in the Solomons. I agree that the accusation isn’t particularly credible, but Clark did call for an uprising against Bainimarama following the coup, so maybe there is a grain of truth to the claims.

Fiji’s military is widely used externally by the UN, and in that sense it is more like a government-owned mercenary force. It has become an internal policing force, but I think it originally developed for external purposes especially when it was sent to fight in the Solomons in WWII.

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Left by Phil on April 14th, 2007

Bob Denard is a good example of the kind of guy I mean when I say “the man who would be king.”

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Left by A.E. on April 14th, 2007

Phil,

Yes, Fiji’s military is used by the UN. I guess my point is that the Fijian military main function is that of an internal policing role.

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Left by Eric Flis on April 18th, 2007

Eric,

Phil is correct. I agree that the Fiji military is acting like an internal police force now, ever since the military took over in the last coup. This is shown by the arrests of dissidents, and their various efforts to debunk supposedly corrupt administrators (which was their main reason for the coup).

You said that the West had moved away from this. That’s true, but you also suggested that Fiji has not. I should point out that before Bainimarama’s coup, the military had no involvement in civilian policing (unless you look at the previous coup eras). So the main role of Fiji’s military was not internal policing, but it might be now.

As Phil wrote, the military is heavily involved with the UN, although that may not continue if Australia and NZ have their way, which would be a shame, as Fijian peacekeepers are well-renowned.

As for the article, I can assure you that Australia, the USA and UK have little understanding of Fijian society and politics. However, I doubt that they would actually do something like try to incite mutiny. We can of course look at USA history and their involvement in political manipultions especially during the Cold War. However, I really don’t think Fiji is in any way so important that these governments would do something so edgy.

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Left by Duncan on June 8th, 2007

Something to say?