Top police team follows FrankPolice have remained tightlipped on a failed attempt to arrest army commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama in New Zealand over the weekend. A team led by Assistant Police Commissioner Crime Kevueli Bulamainaivalu and Assistant Superintendent of Police Waisea Tabakau flew to New Zealand last Saturday. ASP Tabakau is heading the sedition investigation against Commodore Bainimarama.
Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes last night was resting and refused to reveal the purpose of the officers' visit to New Zealand."The Commissioner is resting," a senior aide said. "Yes, we confirm that Bulamainaivalu and Tabakau left for New Zealand on Saturday but we will not say anything on the purpose of the trip," a senior police officer who answered on behalf of Commissioner Hughes said. Deputy Police Commissioner Moses Driver and Director CID Josaia Rasiga's mobile phones were switched off.
However, Commander Land Force Colonel Pita Driti told the Fiji Sun that he was informed that certain senior police officers had left for New Zealand on Saturday. "If the intention is to arrest the Boss then it is a failed mission," he said. "In actual fact, the police are only embarrassing themselves." Cdre Bainimarama said he had not met Mr Bulamainaivalu or Mr Tabakau in New Zealand. "What are they doing here?" he said. "If they had come in on Saturday and today is Monday, why haven't they shown up?"
Cdre Bainimarama said the Fijian and Indian communities in New Zealand had been visiting him during his stay. The New Zealand High Commission in Suva did not wish to comment on the officers' trip and whether they could be having talks with the New Zealand Police on how they could handle Cdre Bainimarama.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Kaliopate Tavola referred all questions to his chief executive officer Isikeli Mataitoga, who was not available to comment.Meanwhile, Cdre Bainimarama opted to remain silent on Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase's request for Foreign Ministers from the member countries of the Pacific Islands Forum to meet this Friday to discuss the situation in Fiji. Forum secretary general Greg Urwin said Mr Qarase had requested a meeting in accordance with the forum's Biketawa Declaration. "I don't want to say anything about that meeting," said Cdre Bainimarama.
This request by Fiji Police represents another untimely escalation in the volatile situation,
considering the efforts to broker a meeting between the Commander and Fiji P.M was intiated by the New Zealand Government. The efforts by the Fiji P.M to seek regional assistance as reported by Fiji Times, only compounded an already dicey situation derived from the Interpol request.
Arrest order out for head of Fiji military
REIJELI KIKAU and SERAFINA QALO
Tuesday, November 28, 2006A Police Tactical Response Division member guards the entrance to Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes house in Tamavua, Suva last night
Fiji police have asked the international police agency, Interpol to have Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama arrested in New Zealand.
And last night, Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes and his family were moved under police escort to a secret location.
Police sources yesterday confirmed two senior officers flew to New Zealand on Sunday to seek Interpol help in arresting Commodore Bainimarama before he returns to Fiji.
The Commodore is expected back this afternoon.
The source said the two officers were Assistant Commissioner Police (Crime) Kevueli Bulamainaivalu and Criminal Investigations Department senior officer, Waisea Tabakau.
Commodore Bainimarama said last night from Wellington he had not been contacted by the two officers.
"Are they in New Zealand? Well, I have not heard from them," he said.
Commodore Bainimarama refused to comment further, saying he was enjoying his holiday with his grandchildren.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Moses Driver said police were being more careful in making comments to the media.
"Now, the media will have to fax questions over to our public relations department," he said.
"There will be no more casual comments over the phone." About 3000 members of the army's Territorial Forces were called in to camp at the weekend and have started training.
Military spokesman Major Neumi Leweni said the training was a normal schedule for the army.
But Radio Australia said the two senior officers were sent to New Zealand to interview Commodore Bainimarama.
It's believed the decision to send a team to New Zealand was made after fresh threats on senior police officers were made via mobile telephone calls late last week.
Last night, Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes and his family left their home in Tamavua at 6.30pm escorted by a police vehicle.
Security officer Kalaveti Rokolati said he saw Mr Hughes and his family leave their home but he did not know if they were leaving the country or had gone elsewhere.
Last night two Police Tactical Response Division officers who were guarding the house confirmed Mr Hughes and his family had been moved to another place.
The house was in darkness, with only the porch lights on and two officers guarding the house.
Mr Rokolati said the officers started guarding the house last night.
Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase said: "There is no need to worry about what is going on right now, especially the students, because they can enjoy their remaining week before taking their school break."
Fiji Police Force acting communications director Sylvia Low called for "calm in the country".
She asked the media to be responsible in its reporting of the stand-off between the military and the Government.
Australia's Foreign Affairs minister Alexander Downer told an interview with ABC he believes a coup could happen within the next two weeks but was not sure on which day.
"Perhaps a bit later than the end of this week, but I think a coup is very likely to occur," he said.
+ Enlarge this imageThe INTERPOL request by Fiji Police Force created unintended consequences that further disturbed the simmering tensions as well as, eroding any motives for good will that this meeting between (Qarase/Bainamarama/Peters) had hoped to incubate. Although, Fiji Army Commander and New Zealand Foreign Minister have meet twice previously as reported by Fiji Times article, it is unlikely if any solution to the impasse would surface.
NZ minister meets Fiji army chief twice
1120 FJT
Tuesday, November 28, 2006Update: 11.20AM New Zealand's foreign minister has met Fiji's army commander for a second time in Wellington in a reported last-ditch attempt to head off threats of an imminet coup in Suva.
Winton Peters met Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama for a second time after holding talks with him over the weekend, his spokesman James Funnell said.
"Obviously our fullest focus is on trying to ease tensions in Fiji and do whatever we can do to prevent anything unfortunate from happening," Funnell said.
He declined to give further details.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said her government was "in dialogue with the commander and the Fiji Government ... to try to see whether there's a way through what is clearly an impasse."
The development comes as South Pacific nations rushed to organise a top-level regional meeting on the worsening crisis.
Bainimarama is expected to return to Fiji from a trip to New Zealand later today, providing a potential flash point in the crisis.
He has threatened in recent weeks to "clean up" the government if it didn't accede to a range of demands by next week, including halting a police investigation into his actions.
"My intention of removing this government is clear," Bainimarama was quoted as saying on Sunday.
Australia and New Zealand have upgraded their travel advisories for Fiji because of the security situation, and Wellington has pulled some of its 30 diplomatic staff and dependents out of Suva.
Tensions between Bainimarama and Qarase have been brewing for almost two years, but they have escalated recently.
Their dispute has centered around two pieces of government legislation: One offering amnesty to the plotters of a 2000 coup, and another that hands coastal land ownership in the multi-ethnic country to indigenous Fijians.
This level of diplomacy by Fiji Government must have prompted the need to create Australian initiated workshops for potential Fiji and Pacific diplomats. The experience of Australia in trade and diplomacy is second to none. So vast are their expolits that, Australia also is involved in the Iraq Oil-for-Food scam reported by an article published by Times of India. Houston Chronicle remarks that, although the Commonwealth of Australia escaped wrath from the investigation, the heat generated from this case may indirectly damage the reputation of Australian P.M John Howard and Foreign Minister Downer.
The embarrasing involvement of Australian executives in this scheme of unbridalled greed, also tarnishes the track record and ideals which the Australian Commonwealth have built their plans for the Pacific on.
The simmering under currents of tension currently captivating Fiji can be safely acknowledged to the remarks by Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer in his recent interview.
Another perspective of the geo-political shift in the Pacific, blames the ripples of power brokering exercised by the larger and wealthier nations perched on the rim of fire.
This unamed article appears on this webpage. This is the excerpt of the opinion:
The New Pacific Wall:
Media Release(Nov 28, 2006)
The big three, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, have divided the Pacific island territories.
New Zealand now controls Polynesia, Australia is “in charge of” Melanesia (including the plundering of natural resources by its multinationals in Papua New Guinea),
and the U.S. has a firm grip on Micronesia. What are the consequences for the people of the island nations.
Conspiracy Theory
After Fiji was condemn to the bottom of the Ocean by Australia, NZ and the US during the coupe in 2000, the Qarase government in its Foreign policy reviews had decided to forged a new look North policy to Asia.
China, Japan and Taiwan open the door for Fiji with the hope to bring in the rest of the pacific islands to their side. The move by Fiji and its acceptance by our Asian neighbours took Australia by surprise and immediately relax the tough sanctions they impose on Fiji. NZ and the US follow suite later on.
By this time The Qarase Government has decided to never again to put all Fiji's hope on Australia and NZ,
The new relationship has mushrooms to a new level of co-peroration and China shows their interest and mutual respect for Fiji and the pacific islands, in establishing a special envoy to the pacific and they show their commitments by attending a special China-Pacific business forums in Fiji this year attended by their Premier,
Australia and NZ wasn’t invited and I don’t think it sits well with them especially after they have accused China for using the pacific Islands and offering a Chequebook foreign policy. Which China adamantly denied.
The America Congress in its 2005 foreign policy reviews raised serious concerns on Chinas move to the pacific. Immediately they send General Abiesay to Australia, NZ, and stop by in Fiji to visit the Commander.
We can only speculate on the content of the visit or conversations, but we cannot deny the result.
Few months later the American and NZ resolved their long dispute over Non Nuclear issue. Howard has already a strong Bush ally NZ Foreign affairs and PM were given the red carpet treatment at the white house American Military resume high-level meetings with Fiji Military We had to wonder the unrest recently in Solomon Island and Tonga the target is Chinese Business. Will that happen in Fiji? Time will tell and certainly looks in that direction.
Also we have to wonder the true motives of Bainimarama’s against Qarase’s government who want s to forge a strong relation with China.
My theory is The US, Australia, and NZ has made it clear their intention, to destabilized any Pacific Island government that have strong ties to Beijing.
Victor Lal's opinion on the viable options available in his article published by Fiji Sun and provides an illuminating view of this stand off between the Government and Army.
There is no other way
Fiji is now in a ‘political crisis’ that so far has not been resolved constitutionally. The President should ask the Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and Commodore Frank Bainimarama to resolve their differences amicably, in the form of give and take, on the grounds of ‘national interest’. Towards this end, the option of the appointment of a new Minister for Home Affairs, to enable the Prime Minister to open a fresh line of communication with the military, remains. But this is for the Prime Minister to exercise, who can be encouraged by the President in doing this.
Even President George W. Bush sacrificed his Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld when the heads of the army, navy, and air force declared a vote of no confidence in Mr Rumsfeld. Also, both Government and the Military, should submit independent mediators of their own choice (but please, no persons already hated and distrusted by both sides).
If this does not work, then the President should at this stage, call upon the Government to seriously entertain the military’s demands, even though it could be seen as caving into the Commodore’s threats, and setting a dangerous precedent for military leaders to dictate future running of a Fiji government. After all, there is ample evidence that it is the military that is in effective control of the military-government politics now rather than the Qarase government.
It must also be stated that both the military and the Government have raised issues that have merit and go well with many people. The Government has stressed the powers of the parliament in democracies - which is a position that must be respected.
On the other hand, the military, in sum, has stated that the democratic majority is being used by the Qarase administration to undermine the rule of law, and is using this majority against the interest of the state and the people; it has also stated that the elected Government is allowing for the serious possibility of foreign intervention in the country - as already evidenced by the undermining of the integrity of the office of the President by Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes in search of the Office - thereby posing a significant danger to national sovereignty.This is a position that expresses the sentiments of many in Fiji. Mr Hughes has however strongly defended his action, saying the police carried out a routine search of the President’s Office in the course of their investigations.
What are the demands of the military?The military’s list of demands include
(1) a public declaration by the Government that the events of 2000 were illegal; (2) withdrawal of the three controversial RTU, Qoliqoli and Tribunal Bills;
(3) all investigations against Commander RFMF and RFMF to be completely withdrawn;
(4) termination of Commissioner of Police contract to be effective as soon as possible;
(5) review the role of the Police Tactical Response Unit;
(6) no foreign police/military intervention;
(7) removal of the commercial arm of the NLTB, the Vanua Holdings.
The first demand is straightforward and easy to accept by the Government, as it can do nothing but condemn the 2000 terrorist uprising.
Demand two is negotiable, so the two sides should seriously consider discussing the three contentious Bills (here is a staring point of a sensible dialogue) while the Bills remain suspended.
As far as demands three, four and five are concerned, they are all negotiable and allow for room for serious discussions to move the talks forward.
Perhaps the Constitutional Officers Commission (COC) should conduct an inquiry into allegations that the Police Commissioner has been conspiring with the Australian and Fiji governments to remove the Commodore from power.
The military, on the other hand, should provide evidence, if any, to the COC for Section 172 (2) provides that ‘A person to whom this part applies may be removed from office for inability to perform the functions of his or her office (whether arising from infirmity of body or mind or any other cause) or for misbehaviour, and may not otherwise be removed’.
After all, it is the COC that appoints the Police Commissioner. The Home Affairs Minister Josaia Vosanibola has no control on the office of the Police Commissioner except on general matters. Demand six is achievable. As to demand seven, the onus is on the military to spell out in detail, and backed up by evidence, as to why the commercial arm should be cease operations.
We are all in the dark on this one. If the Presidential interventions as noted above were not effective - as for them to be effective, they have to be obeyed - then the political crisis would not, in all likelihood, be resolved under the provisions of the Constitution any time soon.
The consequence of letting this state of affairs fester longer is not only to see the economy totally destroyed - the Reserve Bank has already warned of an impending disaster - but also to see a serious possibility of breach of constitution, through the military’s clean up campaign.
It is now the responsibility of the President’s Office to resolve the crisis - and if its plea for dialogue and give-and-take does not yield results, then the President’s Office will be left with no other option but to, as a measure of necessity of protecting the Constitution and the rule of law, assume temporary charge under the convention of Presidential reserve powers.
The President could suspend the Parliament for a defined period of time (no more than 3-6 months), have an interim team of advisers to specifically address and help the President resolve the matters in contention, and then recall Parliament once the crisis is over. In strictly limited circumstances the President, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, could dissolve or suspend Parliament without acting on the advice of Prime Minister Qarase.
The President, like similar office holders in other Commonwealth nations, possesses “reserve powers” to be unilaterally invoked by him in a crisis. We have a serious and potentially violent and bloody crisis in the country. The suspension of the Parliament would also legally shield any persons chosen by the President to run the Interim Administration for the next three months.
The problem, however, is who is going to step in to maintain law and order? In abnormal circumstances it would have been the police, assisted by the army. But the two institutions are at loggerheads. Worse, the Commodore has called on the Government to ask the police chief Andrew Hughes, the very individual supposed to operate side by side with the Commodore, to “pack and leave now” otherwise “the military is going to do it”.
Without Hughes - during the period of Presidential control - there is significant possibility that the military and the police could rebuild their trust in each other, and work together. Direct presidential action, therefore, is the only way forward if dialogue fails. The people have endured enough misery and economic ruin. The President Ratu Josefa Illoilo has reserve constitutional powers in exceptional circumstances to use - that this is the time that may demand their use.
One other matter needs to be stated: Australia and especially its Prime Minister John Howard should simply butt out of the current impasse, for if anything, he and the Prime Minster of New Zealand, Helen Clark, have internationalised and inflamed the dangerous standoff. Instead of acting as honest brokers, since the two had immense leverage on Commodore Bainimarma, they blindly jumped to Mr Qarase’s defence.
In Mr Howard’s case, he has also seriously put his fellow countrymen in harm’s way in Fiji. The Australians should also have had common sense to stay out of the Fijian dispute, given another Australian Police Commissioner’s role in the raiding of the office of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, and now President Illoilo’s office for incriminating evidence against the Commodore.
Above all, the Great Council of Chiefs should stay out of the fray but though under no circumstances should the chiefs sit under mango trees and get drunk on home brew. They should provide support to the President in his attempt to resolve the crisis.
Meanwhile, the failed sacking of Commodore Bainimarama while he was overseas has a dangerous parallel with the attempted sacking of the then Pakistani Army’s Chief of Staff and current President General Pervez Musharraf. In October 1999, the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif removed General Musharraf as army chief while the latter was visiting Sri Lanka. Worst, while General Musharraf was still air-borne, Mr Sharif ordered the Karachi airport to prevent the landing of the airliner, which then circled the skies over Karachi. The army officers loyal to the General however ousted Mr Sharif’s administration and took over the airport. The plane landed with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and General Musharraf seized control of the government.
Mr Sharif was thrown in prison and tried by Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Courts, which sentenced him to several life sentences for corrutpion, hijacking, tax evasion, embezzlement, and terrorism in 2000. The military government agreed to commute his sentence from life in prison to exile in Saudi Arabia. Thankfully, the military officers loyal to Commodore Bainimarama did not emulate their Pakistani counterparts by seizing the Nadi airport, overthrowing the Qarase government, and installing Commodore Bainimarama as the new head of state in the footsteps of General Mussaraf, who is today feted as a great friend of Great Britain, the United States, and Australia.On 15 October 2005 Mr Howard, while welcoming General Musarraf to a luncheon in the Australian Parliament, told the Pakistani dictator that he was glad to welcome him and reminded his listeners that the general had survived two assassination attempts in Paksitan: “So I pay tribute to somebody who has come through the fire of violent challenge to his position, somebody who has played a major role in the fight against terrorism, somebody who has understood the need to confront and defeat the extremist elements within our society, and they are to be found in many societies that seek to visit death and terrorism on people around the world.”
Well, Mr Howard, did you know that Commodore Bainimarama survived an assassination attempt on his life in November 2000? Did you know that he risked all to give back to the people of Fiji democracy and freedom after George Speight’s failed coup?
Did you know that he is hell bent on defeating Fijian extremism, which has caused so much pain and suffering to the nation since 1987? The only difference with your un-elected hero General Musarraf and Commodore Bainimarama is that the latter did not encourage his loyal senior officers to seize power for themselves and, in turn, appoint him (Commodore Bainimarama) as the new Head of State in the South Pacific when he was dismissed recently while overseas.
He should be congratulated rather than demonised. He should be encouraged rather than provoked. Let us, therefore, hope that Commodore Bainimarama will remain on the sidelines, allow the law to take its course, and enter into bi-lateral dialogue with the Government.
For that to happen, the President Ratu Josefa Illoilo must come out of the shadows and take charge of the affairs of the nation under the ‘reserve powers’ vested in him. If the Government and the military still refuse to listen to him, he should suspend the Parliament until a satisfactory resolution is reached.
Victor Lal is a law academic based at Oxford University in England. The opinions expressed are his and not those of this newspaper.
During this period the nation should be governed by the President with the help of a team of Presidential Advisors. That is the only way forward.
Entertaining letters published in the Fiji Daily Post reveals some idea of the extent of this conflict between people of priniciples.
Role of Police Commissioner
...
28-Nov-2006
Sir,
MAREKO Vuli and others who condemn the police and call for the sacking of the Commissioner of Police show their ignorance and lack of understanding on the legal and proper operation of a democratic system of government.
They praise the illegal ramblings of the military and accuse the Fiji Police Commissioner of improper conduct when he is enforcing the laws of the country. Perhaps these people prefer the looting and lawlessness witnessed during the political upheaval of 2000 when we experienced extreme suffering.
Mareko Vuli spews his venom through his extreme views regularly expressed through the Fiji media from the comfort of a true democracy in Australia, something we the committed citizens of Fiji are trying to achieve.
The Australian Immigration Department should check out the status of this man who is inciting illegal activities in another country through his support for the illegal activities of the army and demanding the sacking of a constitutionally appointed officer.
Commissioner Hughes may want to contact his colleagues in Australia to do a check on Mareko Vuli.
His true identity may be exposed in the process.
Emosi Balei,
Suva.Sunshine raggae
28-Nov-2006
Sir,
STREWTH, Commissioner Hughes is in the news again.
Only this time his unsubstantiated tirades have become more sinister wherein the colours of his political stripes are more obvious.
It is of great concern that Commissioner Hughes partisan comments, actions and press statements is in respect harmony with PM Qarase, Australian PM John Howard as well as his mouthpiece Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer in national and geo-political benefits.
The political gridlock assuring mutual benefits was cemented during the Melanesian Spearhead meeting in recent weeks.
Briefly, the beleaguered PM Qarase did not take PM Howard to task over the controversial ransacking of Solomons Prime Minister’s Office on the islands by the Australian Police.
Why? As political soul mates, was there a trade off between PM Qarase and PM Howard?
Be that as it may, shouldn’t Fiji be supporting its weaker Melanesian cousins in time of need especially againt big brother such as Ned Kelly?
And more, PM Qarase has not adequately explained the Australian Police incursion into Fiji’s sovereignty, if any at all. Why?
Is PM Qarase supporting foreign invasion and the overthrow of Commander Frank Bainimarama? Why is the real story behind the Hooey Hughes and his $250,000 salary paid by AusAid? What is the trade off?
Concisely, what is more frightening than anything else, is the fact, that Hooey Hughes freely admits advising PM Qarase and his goons to have Commander Frank Bainimarama “stood down”.
Hooey Hughes’ plot came to nought.
If that is not enough, the maverick Police Commissioner then authorises the raid into the Office of the President of the Republic of Fikji in pursuit of a non-existent document he vows to drag the “shadowy figures” out into the sunlight for all to see. (As an aside, it would be interesting to know which HIgh Court Judge signed the Search Warrant).
The police blitz against the President of the republic of Fiji is an exact carbon copy of hte mercenary-style raid into the Solomon Islands Prime Minister’s Office.
Hooey Hughes’ reasoning is most bizarre considering that most of the shadowy figures in the 1987 and 2000 coups are out in the sunlight except that no actions against them.
For example, the gun-toting politician arrested in possession of firearms but not charged.
The man wearing the red bandana?
How about the bread lady delivering fresh loafs in the Parliament precinct during the illegal overthrow of the Chaudhry-led Government.
And there is that sleaze ball garment factory owner, who frequented Parliament during the dark coup days?
Where is the former Police Commissioner Isikia Savua? His name was strongly linked to the coup. What is the outcome of the finding against him conductedd behind closed doors by former Chief Justice Sir Timoci Tuivaga?
Sir Timoci Tuivaga and current Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki together with High Court Judge Michael Scott freely admitted trying to abrogate the 1997 Constitution of the Republic of Fiji, Arent’ they out in the sunlight Hooey?
In addition, how about the crooked lawyer found dabbling with his client’s trust funds and the current Attorney General Qoriniasi Bale holder? Why him? Well wasn’t he advising PM Qarase and the Great Council of Thieves?
How about the Naitasiri MP Ted Young? Wasn’t he found in the parliamentary precincts during the illegal takeover?
The bread lady, the textile merchant, crooked politician, the mercenaries, the gun-totting politician, the opportunists, the disabarred lawyer, High Court judges and brotheis were one way or another are linked to the overthrow of the constitutionally elected Labour Government.
These entire hosts of crookes and sleaze balls are all out in the sunshine for all to see.
But no action from Hooey Hughes, Why?
The answer is basic. Hughes’ pocket, political stripes and regimented thought process is smugly lodged between where the sun don’t shine. Period.
Tomasi Tokalauvere,
Suva.
Club Em Designs
On growing great power rivalry in the South Pacific: I would recommend the following WSWS article: "Canberra presses its agenda at Pacific Islands Forum" (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/oct2006/pac-o24.shtml)
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