Scoop article reports that, New Zealand Government's meddling into Fiji politics has gone as far as lobbying the removal of Fijian troops operating under the U.N banner in Iraq. Helen Clark's response was also criticized by the National Party spokesperson, as being a significant "back down".
New Zealand's Green Party spokesperson, Keith Locke interviewed in a Niu FM article accused the U.N of virtually funding the Fiji Army, resulting in its present strength. Locke concluded that without this funding, Fiji's coup might not have occured. Podcast of Keith Locke's interview.
Realistically, the final U.N decision was a sterling "smack down" of the New Zealand Government, which is also being buffeted by concerned local exporters; on the uncertain trading ties with Fiji, reported in an article by Stuff.
This is the excerpt of the article on the United Nations decision:
UN decision unprincipled; Clark response weak
Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 8:59 am
The United Nations decision to deploy additional Fijian troops to Iraq totally undermines the credibility of both the New Zealand Government and the UN, says National Party Foreign Affairs spokesman Murray McCully.
Mr McCully describes the UN decision as "unacceptable and unprincipled" and says the comments reported to date from the Prime Minister are "weak and represent a substantial backdown."
"The New Zealand Government warned the Fijian military that there would be consequences if they proceeded with threats to overthrow the elected Fijian Government. Both the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs warned that the removal of Fijian military personnel serving on UN peace-keeping duties would be one of those consequences.
“The National Party supported the Government in issuing those warnings at the time.
"New Zealand, along with Australia and many other nations, has now put in place the threatened sanctions. Fiji has been suspended from the Commonwealth.
"The Prime Minister's reported statement that the decision about use of further Fijian military personnel is a matter for the UN is weak and hollow in context of her earlier statements.
"We all have a huge stake in stability in the Pacific. There can be no stability without the rule of law. That is why the National Party has backed the position of the New Zealand Government. The Government now has some explaining to do about its communications with the UN over recent weeks. It must also make clear to the United Nations that this decision is unprincipled and unacceptable,” said Mr McCully.
Ends
Sydney Morning Herald article has now confirmed that, the New Zealand proposal was denied by the powers that be.
Is the U.N decision, a reminder of the worth of Fiji soldiers in international peacekeeping?
It is also a stark indication, of New Zealand's own reluctance to contribute soldiers on a large scale to war ravaged nations. This U.N decision, also underscores N.Z's juvenile approach to geo-politics.
This is an excerpt of the SMH article:
Fijian peacekeepers to stay: UN to NZ
January 24, 2007 - 5:54PM
New Zealand has attacked a United Nations decision not to suspend Fijian soldiers from peacekeeping missions as punishment for the Pacific nation's military coup last month.
Prime Minister Helen Clark on Wednesday put the decision down to the dire need for peacekeepers in Iraq. She said New Zealand had presented very strong arguments to the UN, saying Fijian soldiers must not be allowed to continue working as peacekeepers given their military's overthrow of the elected government.
"We've made it very clear to the UN that we do not believe they should be using Fijian troops," Clark said.
"Unfortunately our point of view did not get support from the United States, the United Kingdom or the United Nations bureaucracy.
"It's a considerable irony that when you look at the UN mission in Iraq which is to try to help restore some kind of decent government and democracy that Fiji troops are welcome there."
Clark said that former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had agreed with her that a coup in Fiji would lead to the loss of peacekeeping work with the UN.
But things had changed by the time New Zealand approached the UN in the wake of the December 5 coup. "There has been a change of the secretary-general. There's a lot of pressure on the UN to maintain the mission in Iraq, it's very, very dangerous there," Clark said.
"We have one person there as a military liaison observer but New Zealand is not prepared to fill in any gap left by Fiji troops - we think it's extremely dangerous.
"I imagine the secretary-general has been under pressure to try and keep his small force of security up and he's ended up looking back to Fiji but it's not a step we approve of."
Clark believes that Fijian soldiers will become a less attractive proposition for the UN over time, as the military government is deprived of assistance programs from countries like New Zealand and Australia.
© 2007 AAP
U.N webcast on recent geopolitical events including a response to a question posed on Fiji's contribution to peacekeeping.
The reporter inquired whether the former U.N Secretary General, Kofi Annan's remark inferring the scaling down the use for Fijian soldiers in Iraq, still holds.
In spite of the additional recruitment of Fiji soldiers to Iraq, reported by a Radio New Zealand article confirmed by NZ TV3 news; the U.N spokesperson acknowledged that, he was unaware of the comments made by the New Zealand Prime Minister and skillfully skirted around the issue of removing Fiji from U.N operations in Baghdad, Iraq. The U.N spokesperson later clarified that, Annan's comment only applied to future use of Fijian peacekeepers and not existing engagements.
Website for Fiji's Mission to the U.N.
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