Fed: Aust urged to use carrot not stick on Fiji

AAP General News (Australia)
04-17-2009
Fed: Aust urged to use carrot not stick on Fiji

By Sandra O'Malley, Diplomatic Correspondent

CANBERRA, April 17 AAP - When it comes to Fiji, Australia appears to be heeding the
old adage: you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Despite uproar over the recent turn of events that saw the military leadership of Commodore
Frank Bainimarama further entrenched in Fiji, Australia is committed to a softly, softly
approach.

Since the coup of 2006 that put Bainimarama into power, Australia has been calling
long and loudly for Fiji to return to democracy.

Instead, Bainimarama assumed greater powers, just days after the Court of Appeal ruled
his government was illegal.

In the wash-up from the court ruling, President Josefa Iloilo scrapped the constitution,
sacked the judiciary and reappointed Bainimarama until 2014.

Australia admits Fiji is effectively a "military dictatorship" but remains reluctant
to take a stick to the island nation, fearful it will harm ordinary Fijians who are already
dealing with a deteriorating economy.

"Our objective is to try and bring the regime to account, not to hurt the people of
Fiji," says Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.

Unlike Europe, which is now hedging on offers of aid for Fiji's ailing sugar industry,
Canberra has spurned calls for trade or sporting sanctions.

It has resisted suggestions that it should deter Australians from holidaying in Fiji,
where tourism is one of the nation's biggest money spinners.

Its approach, rather, has been to target sanctions at Bainimarama, his regime and their
families, as well as the military, who are banned from travelling to Australia.

Military cooperation is suspended, as well as parts of Australia's aid program to Fiji.

But, by and large, business continues as usual.

Threats to expel Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the Commonwealth have
had little impact.

Like Zimbabwe before it, Bainimarama and his cronies have thumbed their noses at the
punitive force of being removed from such organisations.

This time, however, there is a multilateral forum whose opprobrium Fiji might fear
- mainly because it could hit the hip pocket nerve.

Australia has been talking to the United Nations about how to deal with Fiji, and there
are reports that along with New Zealand it is asking Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and
his team to stop Fiji taking part in lucrative UN peacekeeping operations in the future.

According to the UN, Fiji has 223 peacekeepers in five different operations, including
troops, police and military observers.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has discussed Fiji with the secretary-general in
recent days, but the UN is remaining circumspect about how it will handle the issue.

"Our position stands that we would review any future contributions of Fiji to UN peacekeeping
on a case-by-case basis," a UN spokesperson said on Thursday.

What's clear is that regional powers like Australia and New Zealand desperately need
to find a strategy that will work on Fiji.

Jenny Hayward-Jones, program director for the Myer Foundation Melanesia Program at
the Lowy Institute for International Policy, warns political and economic trouble in Fiji
could mean bad news for the whole region.

"Fiji's political crisis is indeed grave, but the economic crisis already hurting Fiji
citizens also has serious implications for the Pacific Islands region and therefore Australia,"

she says in a policy brief.

Fiji's regional importance in areas like transport, trade and education services means
many countries in the region will be unable to suspend relations for any length of time.

And Ms Hayward-Jones believes the political crisis has the potential to impact a myriad
of ongoing regional initiatives, such as PACER Plus trade negotiations and PIF bulk oil
purchasing initiatives.

She warns unless Australia handles the Fiji situation appropriately, it has the potential
to undermine Canberra's reputation in the region.

It may be costly too if Fiji follows the route of the Solomon Islands, where the situation
deteriorated so badly that Australia and others had to step in to restore peace and stability.

While some think Australia has been too soft on Fiji, Hayward-Jones recommends it does
even more to bolster the island economy, including greater financial assistance.

Rather than trying to pull Fiji from UN operations, Anthony Bergin, from the Australian
Strategic Policy Institute, proposes Australia should be working to create more opportunities
for Fiji - if it moves towards a political solution.

With Fiji's sugar industry in decline, observers obviously see even more "honey" as the answer.

AAP so/kms/jl

KEYWORD: FIJI AUST (AAP BACKGROUNDER)

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