When Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress met with Fiji President Epeli Nailatikau in Fiji last Friday he said China believed that all countries, big or small, rich or poor, strong or weak, are equal members of the international community, and that international affairs should be handled by all Read more
Australia and New Zealand will reappoint High Commissioners to Fiji and relax travel sanctions affecting members of its government. This announcement was made following a meeting in Sydney on Tuesday attended by New Zealand Foreign Minister Mr McCully, Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Fijian Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola. The decision has met with Read more
New Zealand foreign Minister Murray McCully has set out new terms under which New Zealand might relax some of its sanctions on the Fijian Government led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama.
McCully said that if Fiji were to request that New Zealand should exempt new civilian appointees to the cabinet or to permanent secretary’s roles coming in to replace military people currently occupying those roles, “then we’d certainly consider lifting the sanctions as far as those individuals were concerned.”
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Fiji’s Prime Minster last week announced that a consultation process will take place on Fiji’s constitution between July and September. There has been speculation that this announcement would give an opportunity for a change in policy towards Fiji in Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand Foreign Minister, Murray McCully, has already broken ranks and begun to engage with Fiji. While Read more
The Fiji Literary Festival was held in Nadi from 2 to 9 October 2011. Speakers included Graham Davis, an independent Fiji-born journalist and publisher of the political blog Grubsheet, and Fiji Ministry of Information permanent secretary Sharon Smith-Johns. Both addressed issues regarding the role of the media in Fiji. Davis asked, “In reporting in Fiji which version Read more
Perhaps we should not be surprised that Fiji dropped the democratic ball after the Hail Mary pass that their Colonial masters gave them at independence: a nation divided by tribal and ethnic barriers. In the course of Britain’s colonial rule so many Indians were imported to work in the cane fields, that by the time Read more
One of the people taking part in a panel discussion during the launch of the opinion poll was Shamima Ali from Fiji’s Women’s Crisis Centre. She expressed some scepticism about the results.
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Outgoing New Zealand Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand says New Zealand will need to step in to help when the military regime in Fiji eventually fails.