Keeping Fiji in, ‘safest option for region’
An Australian academic says ejecting Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum is an extension of Australia’s failed “sticks and no carrots” approach, which he says has not worked since December 2006.
“Bainimarama has said that Fiji won't bow to external pressures such as our strict travel bans or Australia's mean-spirited decision to cut Fiji from our Pacific agricultural guest-worker scheme,” says Anthony Bergin, “Ejecting Fiji from the Forum just extends our failed approach. It's in a similar vein to the crusade that Australia and NZ have led to ensure that Fiji can't supply peacekeepers to the UN,” says Bergin.
Author of Democracy Postponed: Fiji and Director of Research Programs at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra, Bergin has made the comments in an article published in The Australian newspaper today, in which he argues keeping Fiji within the Forum may be the best way ahead for the island nation, the Forum and Australian security interests in the Pacific.
He has questioned how suspending Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum will cause elections to be held this year.“It's hard to see how suspending Fiji from the Forum will cause Bainimarama to change his mind on holding an election this year. Weakening the Forum simply adds lustre to the Melanesian Spearhead Group, whose backer is China. Australia isn't part of this regional group.”
Bergin agrees with veteran Pacific analyst Graeme Dobell that the Forum will do itself damage by casting out one of its founding states. “With Papua New Guinea, Fiji is at the economic and security heart of the region,” he says. “It is central to the Pacific's transport and communications networks and hosts more than half of the most important regional bodies, including the region's main university.”
Bergin says banning Fiji from international peacekeeping missions will result in unemployed Fiji military personnel. “The remittances the Fiji military provide from UN deployments are critical to alleviating poverty for many military families in Fiji. It's hard to see how this measure would change Bainimarama's mind anyway.” - Taken from The Australian
No comments:
Post a Comment