Fiji’s Home affairs Minister has held an urgent meeting with the nation’s military chief after he expressed concern about the new People’s Alliance-led government.

The government, a three-party coalition led by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, has been in power for less than a month.

Major-General Jone Kalouniwai yesterday warned that the government was taking “shortcuts that circumvent the relevant processes and procedures” which could lead to “long-term national security consequences”.

Kalouniwai’s statement also highlighted the military’s “guardian role” in the constitution, which he claimed was to ensure “excesses [of power] of the past are not repeated”.

The Home Affairs Minister, Pio Tikoduadua, who has responsibility for defence, said he and Kalouniwai had a frank exchange of views, but both were committed to respecting the result of last month’s election.

In a statement, Tikoduadua said he assured the commander that all the government’s actions had been guided by the law.

“The commander and I have spoken, and we have expressed our views frankly to each other. We both believe in the rule of law, democracy, and the rights of every citizen to go about their affairs in peace,” he said.

‘Respecting will of people’
“We are both committed to respecting the will of the people through the outcome of the 2022 general election and protecting that decision, let come what may.

“No one should forget that the commander and the military have also helped us navigate our way, democratically, to a new government a month ago when many people were uncertain that Fiji could achieve a successful transition of government.

“All of us are learning. We are slowly undoing all the misconceptions about democratic governance that have been allowed to take root over the last 16 years. Our institutions are absorbing the impact of a new govemment with different ideas and new priorities.

“But through all of this, we will be talking to each other, in the spirit of consultation to provide the best for the Fijian people.”

The FBC News reports Prime Minister Rabuka said he was not concerned about the public utterances made by Jone Kalouniwai.

He said he had no concerns over the relationship he shared with the military, and he was confident in the RFMF leadership and also the force members.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Caledonia’s pro-independence umbrella organisation says it does not recognise the legitimacy and validity of the third and final referendum on independence from France.

The statement by the organisation grouping seven parties and unions — the Strategic Independence Committee of Non-Particioation (CSIMP) — is the first since 96.5 percent of voters rejected independence from France on Sunday.

Sunday’s vote was boycotted because of France’s refusal to postpone it until next year to consider the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the Kanak population.

The statement said the referendum was not in the spirit of the 1998 Noumea Accord and the United Nations resolutions on the territory’s decolonisation.

It said the path of dialogue had been broken by the stubbornness of the French government, which was unable to reconcile its geostrategic interests in the Pacific with its obligation to decolonise New Caledonia.

The statement said President Emmanuel Macron’s speech to validate the result bestowed no honour on France.

It said the calendar drawn up by Overseas Minister Sebastien Lecornu for post-referendum talks had been turned upside down.

The pro-independence side said the 18-month transition period for a new New Caledonia statute could not begin with a French government at the end of its mandate.

The CSIMP represents the Front de Libération National Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS), Parti Travailliste (PT), Nationalistes du MNSK, Dynamique Unitaire Sud (DUS), Union Syndicale des Travailleurs Kanak et Exploités (USTKE), Confédération Nationale des Travailleurs du Pacifique (CNTP) and the Front de Luttes Sociales (FLS).

MSG doubts referendum’s legitimacy
Melanesian countries said the outcome of New Caledonia’s independence referendum could not be taken as the legitimate wish of the “silent majority”.

Following a call for abstention, only 43 percent of voters went to the polls, with turnout as low as 0.6 percent in some mainly Kanak areas.

The Secretariat of the Melanesian Spearhead Group said it firmly supported a call by New Caledonia’s FLNKS for the United Nations to declare Sunday’s result null and void.

Last week, the secretariat called on MSG member states not to recognise the impending referendum after France refused to postpone it.

Forum calls for consideration of Kanak stance
The Pacific Islands Forum said the non-participation stance of New Caledonia’s pro-independence camp in Sunday’s referendum should be taken into the “contextual consideration” and analysis of the result.

The forum’s Ministerial Committee observed the plebiscite, which was the third and last under the Noumea Accord.

It said it was pleased with the overall arrangements made for polling day, which it said was peaceful, orderly and well organised.

Its statement said the spirit in which the referendum was conducted weighs heavily on the Noumea Accord and New Caledonia’s self-determination process.

It added that civic participation was an integral component of any democracy and critical to the interpretation and implications of Sunday’s poll.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Caledonia’s pro-independence parties say the French overseas minister’s visit in the next few days is unwelcome, describing it as “another provocation”.

Overseas Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced his trip as New Caledonia readies for Sunday’s third and final independence referendum after rejected pleas by the pro-independence parties to postpone it to next year because of the pandemic.

While the minister said he would outline details of the 18-month transition phase following the vote in upcoming talks in Noumea, the pro-independence parties have ruled out meeting him.

They said any negotiations will have to wait until after the French presidential election in April.

The customary Kanak Senate, which is a forum of traditional leaders, has now declared Sunday as a day of mourning for the victims of the pandemic and called on Kanaks not to vote.

Its president, Yvon Kona, has also appealed for calm so there would be no trouble on polling day.

An extra 2000 police and military personnel have been flown in from France to provide security across the territory.

Complaint that Lecornu flouted covid rules
Meanwhile, a small pro-independence party has lodged a formal complaint against Lecornu in France after reports that the minister flouted covid-19 restrictions during his visit to New Caledonia in October.

The French investigative news site Mediapart reported that Lecornu had gone for drinks at a meeting with anti-independence New Caledonian politicians.

The complaint alleges that by breaking the rules he imperiled the health of others.

The ministry said the event was a work-related multilateral exchange.

It said in turn it intended to lodge a complaint against the party for defamation.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz