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In the wake of the December 5, 2006, military coup, Australia and New
Zealand are falling over one another to impose economic, military, and
political sanctions against Fiji. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen
Clark is even considering imposing sporting sanctions against Fiji
athletes. Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who turned his back on
Laisenia Qarase when his Fijian ally called for help, has cancelled all
military cooperation with Fiji, although aid intended to help alleviate
poverty in Fiji is being maintained.
For now Australia hasn’t
imposed direct economic sanctions, possibly out of fears of driving
Fiji into the arms of Asian countries, as Eisenhauer and Nixon drove
Castro into the arms of the Soviet Union by cancelling the Cuban sugar
quota. Will the European Union repeat history by cancelling the Fiji
sugar quota? Such a move would impose grievous hardship on the quarter
of Fiji’s population which relies on the sugar industry for its
livelihood. The United Nations starved hundreds of thousands of Iraqi
children to death in the name of democracy with sanctions intended to
drive Saddam Hussein from office. Luckily, Fiji has no oil.
Tourism
is Fiji’s biggest industry, accounting for over a quarter of the gross
domestic product. Even before Laisenia Qarase lost control of the
country, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and many other
so-called “friends” of Fiji imposed sanctions on this industry by
issuing highly misleading travel advisories warning against visiting
the country. To date, all reports say that Fiji is perfectly calm and
safe for tourists. Australian and New Zealand diplomats in Suva must
know that, but like the United States government which imposes fines
and even jail sentences on individual Americans who dare to visit Cuba,
Australia and New Zealand are quite willing to use their own citizens
as pawns in their political games. My advice to travelers is to ignore
these false advisories and have a nice time in Fiji.
Instead of
giving lectures on democracy, Helen Clark should be calling for
immediate negotiations between Commodore Frank Bainimarama and Fiji’s
Great Council of Chiefs to try to resolve this crisis. Unfortunately
for Ms. Clark and Mr. Howard, Qarase and his corrupt cronies will
probably not be coming back, just as Dr. Timoci Bavadra never came back
after the 1987 coups, nor Mahendra Chaudhry after the coup in 2000.
Break it and it’s yours, and Bainimarama is now the power to deal with
in Fiji. Peaceful protests are certainly not going to convince the Fiji
military to return to its barracks, and the consequences of violent
protests are too terrible to imagine. No one wants to see Suva burn, as
Honiara and Nukualofa burned all too recently. John Howard and Helen
Clark should be very careful about what they say and so.
The Author is a Travel Writer and author of numerous Travel Handbooks. This piece was originally published on his blog. Read his blog and wonderful travel guides at southpacific.org
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