By Ryan L. Maness
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji — Australia’s foreign Minister Stephen Smith received a death threat on June 27, the third such threat that the diplomat has received in the last few months.  Describing the death threat, Smith said it was serious credible and offensive.

Tension has mounted between the Australian government and the Fiji’s interim government about the appropriate response to the threats.  Australia has requested that federal police personnel be allowed to enter Fiji to beef up Smith’s security detail, but Fiji said that no Australian police officers will be allowed into the country.  Fiji police spokesman Ema Mua said that local Fiji police were available upon request, insisting that local authorities were sufficient to deal with the death threats.

Minister Smith is now on leave in Australia and has been since receipt of the last death threat in May.

For more information, please see:

Fiji Times — No requests received by police — 03 July 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Fiji refuses to allow Australian police to protect High Commissioner — 30 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Australia’s Fiji High Commissioner receives third death threat — 30 June 2008

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SUVA, Fiji — The interim government came to power in December 2005 under a promise, among other things, to weed out corruption from Fiji’s government.  A central instrument to this policy is the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption, which was designed to investigate and prosecute public bodies.  While promulgated by the interim government, it was an open question until this week about what the future of FICAC and whether it was legal.  This week, however, a Fiji High Court has confirmed that FICAC has the power to carry out investigations and prosecute those that it finds evidence against.

The Commission’s deputy commissioner, George Langman, said, “I’m glad that the court has finally come out with that. It hasn’t stopped our investigations we have continued to investigate and charge public officials. We are at the moment investigating a number of public bodies.”  Langman also said that twenty-two public officials and two business men have faced charges of corruption.  More indictments are expected to be handed down soon.

The future is still somewhat uncertain though because the full powers of FICAC are dependent on the legality of the interim government.  As such, if ousted Prime Minister Lasenia Qarase is successful in his suit challenging the legality of the interim government then FICAC will not be allowed to operate.

For more information, please see:
Fiji Daily Post — FICAC to charge more — 30 June 2008

FijiVillage — Lawyers to Appeal Judge’s Decision — 30 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Fiji court confirms power of Commission against Corruption — 29 June 2008

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SUVA, Fiji — Over the past several weeks the Fiji Media Council and the interim government have been trading comments, with the government hinting that governmental regulation of the media might be necessary and with the Media Council denouncing any such regulation.  It is in this atmosphere that many international observers have begun to worry about the media’s independence in Fiji.  This is why it has come as a welcome relief to the Fiji Media Council and others that Fiji has decided to consider giving visas to a group of Australian journalists.

The journalists, from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, had originally been denied visas by the interim government when they had requested to enter Fiji after reporting on the Festival of Pacific Arts in American Somoa.  Explaining the reason for the refusal, acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Information Major Neumi Leweni, said, “”Some reporters from abroad and, the decision has been made and I don’t think I should really been explaining it, because the decision halews been made and Fiji is a sovereign country and decides on who comes in, and that’s it.”

This position has now shifted, however, as reports from the interim government suggest that the journalists will be allowed in after all.  According to Leweni, he had spoken to ABC’s director of international relations and has gotten a better idea of ABC’s mission in Fiji.  This lack of clarity, the Fiji Times reports, was the reason why the visas were to be denied in the first place.  Now Leweni has said that, “We are in the process of advising proper authorities regarding the granting of their visa.”  While not definite, this indicates that it is likely that the reporters will be allowed in.

For more information, please see:
Fiji Times — Visa for journos — 01 July 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Fiji rejection of Australian journalists described as unacceptable — 29 June 2008

FBCL — Reporters likely to get green light to enter Fiji — 29 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Reporters likely to get green light to enter Fiji — 27 June 2008

Fiji Times — Foreign journalists may face ban — 27 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Fiji suggests more journalists’ ban over unspecified negative reporting — 26 June 2008