Page 23 - Islands Business March 2024

Diplomacy Diplomacy

Do they really
want Fijian
peacekeepers
out there? Or
are they going
to indirectly
punish the
RFMF?

- Former Deputy
Commander of the
Republic of Fiji
Military Forces,
Aziz Mohammed.
Implications for the safety and security of Fijian troops deployed in the Middle East. Photo: Republic of Fiji Military Forces

Former Ambassador Kaliopate Tavola asks why that position and Finance Minister.
has changed. “Fiji’s rationale for showing interest now is not Prasad’s fellow party member and former NFP Leader,
so much about the real issue on the ground - the genocide Home Affairs Minister, Pio Tikoduadua, served in the Fiji
taking place, but the niceties of legal processes. Coming from peacekeeping forces deployed to Lebanon in the 1990s, and
Fiji with its history of coups, it is a bit over-pretentious, one recounted the horrors of war he had seen in the region.
may say”. “I can still vividly remember the blood, the carnage and the
mothers weeping for their children and the children finding
At odds with past conduct out that they no longer had parents,” he said.
Former Deputy Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military “In any war, no matter how justified your cause may be,
Forces, now Professor in Law at the University of Fiji, Aziz it is always the innocent that suffer and pay the price.
Mohammed says the change of position does not reconcile Those images, those memories are seared into my memory
with Fiji’s past endorsement of international instruments and forever…..that is why NFP has taken the position of supporting
conventions, including the International Criminal Court (ICC) a ceasefire in Gaza contrary to Fiji’s position at the UN.”
statute on war crimes at play in the current proceedings at Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, Major-
the ICJ. General Jone Kalouniwai said the “decision has significant
“That endorsement happened by the government that was implications for the safety and security of RFMF troops
in power at the time of the current Prime Minister (Sitiveni currently deployed in the Middle East” and called on the
Rabuka’s administration in the 1990s),” says Mohammed. government to reevaluate its stance on the Israel-Hamas
“We became the fifth country to endorse it. So, it was issue.
very early that we planted a flag to say, ‘we’re going to “Their safety and security should remain a top priority,
honour this international obligation’. And that happened. But and it is crucial that their contribution to international
subsequently, we brought the war crimes (section from the peacekeeping efforts are fully supported and respected,” an
ICC statute) into our Crimes Act. Not only that, but we also RFMF statement said.
adopted the international humanitarian laws into our laws -
three Geneva Conventions, and three protocols. So, in terms Interesting cocktail
of laws, most countries only have adopted two, but we have Writing in the Asia-Pacific current affairs publication, The
adopted all the international instruments. But then we’re not Diplomat, Melbourne-based Australia and the Pacific political
adhering to it.” analyst, Grant Wyeth said Pacific islanders’ faith and foreign
Fiji was among six Pacific Island countries – including policy make an “interesting cocktail” that drives their UN
Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Nauru, Marshall Islands, and the votes in favour of Israel.
Federated States of Micronesia – that voted against a UN He knocks any theories about the United States having
resolution in October calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza. bought off these island nations.
That vote caused significant political ruptures. One of “Rather than power, faith may be the key to understanding
Rabuka’s two coalition partners, the National Federation Party the Pacific Islands’ approach,” writes Wyeth. “Much of the
(NFP), said Fiji should have voted for the resolution. “It was a Pacific is highly observant in their Christianity, and they have
motion that called for peace and access to humanitarian aid, an eschatological understanding of humanity.”
and as a country, we should have supported that,” said NFP
Leader, Professor Biman Prasad, who is Deputy Prime Minister Continued on page 26

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