The military commander in Fiji has given Fiji's Prime minister 24 hours to resign before doing his "clean up campaign" (Coup). Reason I am writing this dairy in Kos is I am guessing US may be asked to be part of the intervention forces.
A background to the situation is the current Prime Minister Lasenia Qarase was re-elected around 4 months ago in a racially based election. One of the significant factors in winning was a protest vote, against current military commander. So the current situation between Prime minister and Fiji’s military commander has been going on for quite a long time.
There are really two camps in Fiji. The first camp is the indigenous Fijians who support the current government and the second camp is Fiji Indians and Labour supporters who support Military Commander's effort in trying to clean up corruption in Fiji.
Fiji has already has had a number of coup’s so I am not going to argue the pro’s or cons of a coup in Fiji, only that it goes against the normal world views in how to remove a democratically elected government.
Currently there are Australian warships less then one hundred miles outside Fiji in the guise of being there to evacuate Australians. But last night there was an accident with a Blackhawk helicopter that had six SAS officers on board, this points to other motives. Tomorrow there will also be a meeting by Pacific Foreign ministers in Australia with the main focus of a foreign intervention force to Fiji.
I have always argued that we live in a global village and what happens in other countries does have an effect on all of us. It also means a responsibility to look after neighbors that are being bullied or performing actions against the normal world views.
What is happening in Fiji is the army is about to remove a recently elected government. This action won’t have a significant effect on our global neighbors but should Fiji’s neighbors allow this to happen.
Besides the majority of Fiji Indians, a significant portion of indigenous Fijian do not support foreign intervention so arguing for something the majority of people in Fiji don’t want is not a solid argument, but here goes
- Removing a recently elected government through military means is wrong
- In Fiji policeman don’t have guns and Military have all the firepower so whatever they say goes.
- The Commissioner of Police has just resigned after receiving death threats from the Army
- If you believe we live in a global village then there should be certain rules for acceptable behavior and consequences, if those rules are not met.
- The idea of a foreign intervention force was just agreed upon last month in a Pacific forums meeting. It is based on the Biketawa Declaration, which allows for intervention in a member state if requested by the Government of that nation.
- The have been problems in Solomon Islands and Tonga that has required overseas forces to intervene
In the end though the question is really should neighbor’s risk their lives to protect our democracy.