What are you talking about AN?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/NZ-rejects-why-diplomat-ousted-from-Fiji/2007/06/17/1182018926058.html

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has rejected the latest explanation given by Fiji's military leader for the expulsion of her country's High Commissioner to Suva.

Michael Green was ordered to leave last Thursday, with the decision based on a vague claim that he had interfered with Fiji's domestic affairs.

Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who ousted Fiji's elected government in a coup last December, called a press conference to apparently explain why the diplomat had been declared persona non grata.

"Michael Green has been in our face since the 5th of December," he said at the press conference reported by New Zealand's TV One News.

After that comment, he referred to a rugby match which took place last weekend between the Junior All Blacks and Fiji, where Green was given a VIP seat.

There has been speculation in Wellington that the expulsion order was sparked by that event, and that Bainimarama - who was sitting in the stands - had felt offended.

"The Fiji Rugby Union has done the people of this nation a grave disservice," he said at a press conference.

"Out of 800,000 people in Fiji they went out and nominated the enemy of the day to be chief guest."

---

Fiji military ruler defies NZ threat

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Fiji-military-ruler-defies-NZ-threat/2007/06/21/1182019250073.html

Fiji's military ruler has challenged New Zealand to find further sanctions to impose on his coup-installed regime after expelling Wellington's top diplomat.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who has already cut most aid and defence ties with Fiji and banned coup supporters from entering her country, vowed to impose new sanctions after they were decided at a Cabinet meeting next week.

---

Fiji's public servants to strike in July

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking-news/fijis-public-servants-to-strike-in-july/2007/06/22/1182019359192.html

Fiji's public sector unions will stage a nationwide strike next month after the country's military regime slashed their wages and said it would force people to retire earlier.

---

Blog urges Fijians to consider attacks

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking-news/blog-urges-fijians-to-consider-attacks/2007/06/22/1182019348885.html

A weblog aimed at destabilising Fiji's military regime has urged Fijians to consider attacks in tourist areas, with one user even posting instructions on how to make explosives.

---

Alleged Fiji mutiny plotter wins retrial

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking-news/alleged-fiji-mutiny-plotter-wins-retrial/2007/06/25/1182623808607.html

Fiji's court of appeal ordered the retrial of a Fijian chief who was imprisoned for life for plotting to kill the country's military commander in a military mutiny in 2000.

A panel of three judges quashed verdicts against Ratu Inoke Takiveikata imposed by the High Court in November 2004 by the South Pacific nation's acting chief justice, Anthony Gates.

The panel found that Gates was biased against Ratu Inoke, the paramount chief of Fiji's Naitasiri district, and ordered a retrial on charges of inciting a military mutiny in November 2000.

The bloody mutiny, in which eight soldiers died, was a bid to kill Commodore Frank Bainimarama months after he quashed a May coup, freed 55 Fiji lawmakers held hostage, arrested the coup leaders and helped restore democracy.

---

Australia loaned Fiji weapons: Nelson

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking-news/fiji-sees-threat-in-aussie-navy-plans/2007/06/25/1182623797353.html

Australia loaned the Fiji military weapons, protective equipment and more than 350,000 rounds of ammunition so it could send troops to Iraq three years ago.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson revealed that all weapons plus some of the protective equipment had now been returned.

But ammunition and other supplies remain with the Fijian contingent inside Iraq, serving as part of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).

Australia officially suspended all defence cooperation with Fiji following the military coup last December.

---

Australian lawyer deported from Fiji

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Australian-lawyer-deported-from-Fiji/2007/06/26/1182623896867.html

Fiji's military government has deported the Australian lawyer of a civil rights campaigner, who is seeking a court order to stop the military from harassing her.

Cameron has been representing Fiji civil rights activist Angie Heffernan, who is seeking a court order to stop the military from questioning or detaining her.

Heffernan is the director of the Pacific Centre for Public Integrity and has been a vocal critic of coup leader Frank Bainimarama's military government, installed after his December putsch.

In January this year, she said threats from the military had led to the closure of the PCPI's offices and at one stage forced her into hiding with her children.

Heffernan was arrested later that month, and threatened with charges under the Public Order Act over what Land Force Commander Colonel Pita Driti called her "inciting statements".

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Fiji-leader-taunts-New-Zealand-PM/2007/07/12/1183833645202.html

Fiji's self-appointed prime minister has taunted New Zealand leader Helen Clark with a promise to attend a meeting of Pacific leaders in Tonga despite her warning he would be treated like a leper.

Earlier this week Clark said Bainimarama would be "treated like a leper" if he attended an October meeting of Pacific leaders in Tonga.

But Bainimarama on Thursday hit back at the comments.

"She's made a statement that she'll go to the forum meeting and ask that I be removed but it does not depend on the forum," Bainimarama is reported as saying in the Fiji Times.

"That is taken for granted that Fiji is part of the forum and I will be there as a leader.

""If she doesn't want to see me, then she should make a point not to come to the forum," he said.

---

Australia warns of Fiji nurses strike

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Australia-warns-of-Fiji-nurses-strike/2007/07/24/1185043079039.html

Australia has issued a warning to travellers of the risk of street demonstrations and public disorder in Fiji where nurses are preparing to walk off the job.

---

Fiji to hire strike-breaking contractors

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Fiji-to-hire-strikebreaking-contractors/2007/08/03/1185648094315.html

The Fiji government is looking to bring in private contractors to provide public services as four of the Pacific nation's public sector unions continue strike action.

The workers - including 4000 teachers, 1500 nurses and other employees of the military-led government - are protesting a five per cent pay cut and the reduction in the retirement age from 60 to a mandatory 55 imposed by the interim government.

---

Fijians to vote in 2009: coup leader

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Fijians-to-vote-in-2009-coup-leader/2007/08/15/1186857586957.html

The coup-prone South Pacific nation of Fiji will hold democratic elections in March 2009, armed forces chief and coup leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama says.

---

Fiji coup 'was not a coup'

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Fiji-coup-was-not-a-coup/2007/08/31/1188067328936.html

Fiji's military takeover last year was not a coup, and Australian history proves it, claims a Fiji human rights group.

Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission (FHRC) Dr Shaista Shameem claims in a report to the United Nations that the military takeover on December 5 was not a coup because the "essence of state power" was not removed.

The document was prepared for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as part of a report into alleged abuses of international law during the events of December last year.

Dr Shameem, in the past accused of being a strong supporter of military leader and self-appointed prime minister Frank Bainimarama, says in the report that the president of Fiji is the country's head of state, and since he remained in power during the takeover, the coup did not occur.

The FHRC is a statutory body in Fiji that is supposed to independently protect and promote human rights in the country.

The report says there has only been one coup in Fiji during the past 20 years - in September 1987.

As evidence of her assertion, Dr Shameem points to the removal of Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam by Governor-General John Kerr in 1975, which was not considered a coup.

---

Australian, NZ judges quit Fiji

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Australian-NZ-judges-quit-Fiji/2007/09/04/1188783211333.html

Fiji faces a judicial crisis after six expatriate judges, including an Australian, quit over the behaviour of the country's military-appointed chief justice.

---

I'm being followed, says ousted Fiji PM

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Im-being-followed-says-ousted-Fiji-PM/2007/09/04/1188783218129.html

Ousted Fiji prime minister Laisenia Qarase has accused the military of following him since his return to the capital Suva, amid reports soldiers also roughed up his driver.

Qarase, who was overthrown last December in a military coup led by Commander Frank Bainimarama, returned to Suva on Saturday after spending eight months in exile on his remote home island of Vanua Balavu.

Before leaving for Suva, Qarase claimed he had received a phone call from someone identifying themselves as from the military, warning he would be killed if he returned to the capital.

---

Bainimarama declares martial law in Fiji

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Bainimarama-declares-martial-law-in-Fiji/2007/09/06/1188783388620.html

Fiji's self-appointed leader Frank Bainimarama has reinstated martial law in the South Pacific country.

The state of "public emergency regulation" was intended to stop ousted Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and his party executives from "destabilising our progress", coup leader and self-appointed prime minister Bainimarama said.

He said Qarase and his spokesman Peceli Kinivuwai were spreading lies about his regime, which seized power in a bloodless coup nine months ago, Fijilive reported.

---

Australia 'warned Fiji of invasion'

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Australia-warned-Fiji-of-invasion/2007/09/12/1189276786843.html

Fiji's military strongman who seized power last year has claimed Australia's defence forces threatened to invade the country in the lead-up to the December coup.