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Oceania - Fiji

Fiji problems dog Pacific summit

Article published on the 2009-08-03 Latest update 2009-08-03 10:53 TU

Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, Fiji's coup leader(Photo: AFP)

Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, Fiji's coup leader
(Photo: AFP)

Fiji coup leaders have defied international pressure yet again to hold elections this year, an issue that will be high on the agenda when officials from the 16-member Pacific Islands meet on Wednesday in Cairns, Austalia for the annual Pacific Islands Forum. France, who will chair the summit, has snubbed Fiji by not inviting the coup leaders to the event.

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Regional powerhouses Australia and New Zealand have tried to keep the issue of Fiji low on the list of concerns.

"There's a strong sentiment I've picked up, which is the region doesn't want to see another Pacific Islands forum which is dominated either by the presence or the absence of [Fijian military leader] Commodore Bainimarama," Austalian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told ABC in an interview last week.

 Australia, as the host of the Forum, prefers to discuss more economic matters, such as the global recession and new regional trade deal, as well as climate change.

But other countries, such as Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji, who make up the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), met last month and issued a communique calling for 'open and constructive dialogue' with the coup leaders.

MSG added that it was important that Fiji should be 'continuously engaged' in the Pacific Islands Forum and that the country should be involved in trade liberalisation negotiations.

Fiji had been suspended from the Forum in January after Bainimarama reneged on a promise to hold elections in March 2009.

Fiji also faces suspension in September from the Commonwealth if the country fails to commit to new elections by 2010. Bainimarama seized power in a coup in 2006, and has reportedly said that he would not hold elections until 2014.

If the Commonwealth orders a full suspension of Fiji it will lose all aid it still continues to receive from neighbouring countries.

Bainmarama imposed media censorship earlier this year and fired the judiciary.