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Two years later where do we stand? January 28, 2009

Posted by Ricardo Morris in Politics, Uncategorized.
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The urge to scream at the way Fiji has fared in the past two years under military rule, culminating in the tragedy of the messy response to the recent floods, has prompted me to revive Dateline Dispatch. Attempting to keep your head above water during trying times, let alone blog sanely about it, can be a challenge. Yet it is something that should be done. More voices of reason must be raised even if the spectre of a recalcitrant military hangs over any of these dissenting voices.

In the first post in more than 16 months, is news that the Pacific Islands Forum leaders have given the Fiji regime led by Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama until May 1 this year to nominate an election date – a date which should fall within this year.

The strongly-worded communiqué issued at the end of the special retreat in Port Moresby at which Forum leaders considered the question of Fiji, came as Bainimarama declined to attend on the basis of his overseeing the disaster relief effort at home.

The disaster couldn’t have come at a worse time for Fiji. As a state, Fiji found itself increasingly isolated even from its brother-nations within the Pacific Islands Forum. Yet it now needs all the help it can, not only to recover from this disaster but also with preparation for an election.

If Bainimarama fails to name an election date before May 1, Fiji could find itself becoming the first Forum member country – and a founding member – to be suspended. The ramifications of such as move by the Forum leaders need not be spelled out. Quite apart from the economic effects already taking its toll, it could mean a prolonged period of military-backed rule. And if the regime’s own statements are anything to go by, that is what most likely will happen. The military are desperate to rearrange the political framework before it will allow itself (so it says) to hand back power to a civilian government.

Fiji Television showed footage of Bainimarama addressing troops at Queen Elizabeth Barracks on Monday. Ominously, Bainimarama was emphatic that electoral laws would be changed during the military’s reign – even if it took 10 years.

And there’s the catch. Constitutional lawyers insist that the Constitution cannot be changed without the sanction of an elected parliament. Yet the military, no doubt buoyed by the October ruling of the High Court which legitimised the President’s actions since the military seized power on December 5, 2006, are adamant they can change constitutionally-entrenched laws through presidential decrees.

History shows all too well that once military officers have seized power, even in the name of cleaning up corruption, they are very reluctant to hand that power back any time soon. Case in point, Pakistan. General Pervez Musharraf staged a bloodless coup in 1999 against the government of Nawaz Sharif and promptly styled himself “chief executive” of Pakistan with a view to “politically restructure” that country. In 2001 he appointed himself president and remained in power for a further sevens years. He only resigned from the post in August last year under pressure of impeachment by a morally strengthened legislature.

And despite all the appearances, the civilians in the interim government contend the military is not running the show. “We are not a military regime … we are a valid interim Government,” interim Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum insisted to TVNZ following the Port Moresby meeting.

In the same interview Sayed-Khaiyum confirmed what Bainimarama had said a day earlier. The interim Attorney-General said an election would only be held once all the political players have agreed on electoral reform. Which brings us back to the issue of legality.

But there’s no point reiterating it since the regime’s top legal adviser seems to have it all worked out. The fact that Fiji has had four coups over the past two decades, he told TVNZ, was “precisely the point”.

“The reason why we’ve had these interruptions to democratic parliamentary governance has been that the system has not been working and that is a fundamental principle people seem to neglect.”

Extrapolating from this logic, it follows that you’ve had coups because the system was broken, therefore to fix the system you stage another coup, which should then fix the system which the previous coups broke.

Get it?

I don’t.

PS: One of the original reasons for the 2006 coup has been all but forgotten. The big promises of exposing the alleged far-reaching corruption of the ousted government has been a disappointment. Although several prominent people have been charged with abuse of office, including ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase himself, none of the allegations are as explosive as Bainimarama made it out to be in December 2006.

Forum leaders give Fiji ultimatum January 28, 2009

Posted by Ricardo Morris in Pacific Islands Forum, Politics.
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The following is a statement issued after the end of the special Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ retreat in Port Moresby on Tuesday to consider the question of Fiji. The leaders have given Suva an ultimatum to name an election date by May 1 – and that date must fall within this year. Failing that, sanctions under the Biketawa Declaration will be activated, including for the first time in Forum history the suspension of a member country – and a founding member country at that.

—

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

27 January 2009

LEADERS’ DECISIONS

Heads of State and Government of Australia, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu; and representatives of Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji and Palau; met in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on 27 January 2009 to discuss the situation in Fiji. Leaders noted the apologies received from the Republic of the Marshall Islands for its inability to attend due to circumstances beyond its control.

2. Leaders expressed their thanks to the Government and people of Papua New Guinea for their warm hospitality and generous hosting of the meeting, and the excellent arrangements made for the Retreat.

3. Leaders:

(a) Reiterated the condemnation expressed by them in the Niue Communiqué of the failure of the Fiji Interim Government to demonstrate the necessary political will to fulfil the undertaking made to Forum Leaders in 2007 that it would hold parliamentary elections by March 2009;

(b) Noted and acknowledged the steps taken by the Fiji Interim Government towards re-engagement with the Forum since the Leaders’ Meeting in Niue, including the reconvening of the Forum-Fiji Joint Working Group, and the second visit of the Ministerial Contact Group; but expressed serious concern at the continuing lack of practical preparations for holding elections;

(c) Stated that more than two years of rule by an unelected military government, with no clear timetable for the return of constitutional government to the people, is not acceptable by international standards including those embraced by all Forum members and enshrined in the Biketawa Declaration, and emphasised the need to restore democracy without further delay;

(d) Reaffirmed that there are long-term issues that need to be addressed in Fiji, including through independent and inclusive political dialogue; but that such dialogue must be primarily focused on the holding of elections. The dialogue process should not be the cause for further delay in holding elections;

(e) Called on the Interim Government to take the following actions to demonstrate its commitment to the restoration of parliamentary democracy in Fiji:

(i) provide to Forum Leaders a new timetable agreed with all key political stakeholders, specifying in detail the agreed steps to elections and a return to democracy, and the timing for completing them, reflecting a consensus reached through a genuine, open, inclusive dialogue without threats, preconditions, ultimatums or predetermined outcomes;

(ii) make a clear commitment that any reforms agreed through political dialogue will be implemented in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Fiji;

(iii) undertake and sustain serious and credible election preparations, including allocation of necessary resources to the Office of the Supervisor of Elections, and the prompt preparation of the electoral roll; and

(iv) make a renewed commitment that the military will withdraw from civilian politics following such an election, return to barracks, and submit to the authority of the elected civilian government in accordance with the Constitution;

(f) Agreed, subject to progressing the actions specified at sub-paragraph (e) above, to positively consider providing prompt financial and technical assistance to the President’s Political Dialogue Forum; in recognition of the value of independent and inclusive dialogue as a long-term process to assist in resolving broader issues in Fiji. The specifics of such assistance would be determined in close consultation with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the United Nations;

(g) Reaffirmed the ongoing readiness of Forum members to continue to assist Fiji with preparations for an election, and called on the relevant authorities in Fiji to cooperate fully with Forum members and other donors to expedite such assistance;

(h) Agreed, in furtherance of Forum members’ collective commitment to the fundamental principles enshrined in the Biketawa Declaration, to the imposition of “targeted measures” under paragraph 2(iv) of the Biketawa Declaration in relation to Fiji to take effect unless:

(i) the Fiji Interim Government nominates an election date by 1 May 2009;

(ii) that election is held by the end of December 2009; and

(iii) the actions in paragraph (e) above are taken and publicly declared by 1 May 2009.

(i) Agreed that such targeted measures will comprise the following:

(i) suspension of participation by the Leader, Ministers and officials of the Fiji Interim Government in all Forum meetings and events; and

(ii) ineligibility of the Fiji Interim Government to benefit from Forum regional cooperation initiatives, and new financial and technical assistance, other than assistance toward the restoration of democracy under the framework of the Biketawa Declaration;

(j) Agreed that the targeted measures, if imposed, will remain in place until such time as a democratically elected, civilian parliamentary government is restored in Fiji;

(k) Tasked the Ministerial Contact Group with continued monitoring of the Fiji situation, within the framework of Leaders’ decisions, including in relation to the assessment of the Fiji Interim Government’s compliance with sub-paragraph (e) above, and directed it to report further to Leaders as required and in any case before their 2009 annual meeting in Australia. Such reporting could, if necessary, recommend the partial relaxation of existing measures, or, alternatively, the adoption of further measures, which might include full suspension of Fiji’s membership in the Forum; and

(l) Called on the international community to support the measures outlined above by taking complementary actions to encourage the prompt restoration of elected constitutional government in Fiji.

4. Leaders considered that the timelines specified in these decisions are consistent with the position stated to Forum Leaders by the representative of the Fiji Interim Government on a timetable for the return to democracy.

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

27 January 2009