FIJI CIVIL-MILITARY FRICTIONS RE-HEAT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SUVA 000425 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2016 TAGS: MARR PREL FJ SUBJECT: FIJI CIVIL-MILITARY FRICTIONS RE-HEAT REF: A. SUVA 401 ¶B. SUVA 393 ¶C. SUVA 254 ¶D. SUVA 26 Classified By: Amb. Dinger. Sec. 1.4 (B,D). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) Commander Bainimarama has resumed his public blasts at PM Qarase's government and has issued not-so-veiled threats that Qarase must step down or face the consequences. Current motivators for Bainimarama may include controversial bills coming before Parliament; Qarase's request for a Supreme Court opinion on the RFMF's domestic-political powers; the nomination of a Colonel, who tried to remove Bainimarama last January, to be Prison Commissioner; and revelations in a current court case that suggest officials in the Qarase government of 2001 engaged in corrupt practices. Bainimarama's current threats may just be bluff, as in the past; or, given his seeming degree of irritation, they could be for real. A constraint must be the reality that past coups in Fiji were against ethnic-Indian-dominated governments. Qarase's ethnic-Fijian-led government would raise new and difficult issues for the ethnic-Fijian RFMF. Another factor is that Bainimarama is scheduled to be on travel for most of the next month. Embassy Suva is monitoring the situation closely. End summary. RFMF Commander resumes public blasts at Government -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) After four months of relative calm in the often fractious relationship between RFMF Commander Bainimarama and Fiji's civilian leadership, Bainimarama has resumed public outbursts. In late September (refs A and B),he used the occasion of a "passing out parade" for a group of high school military cadets to lambaste PM Qarase for a "qoliqoli" bill on indigenous foreshore rights. Bainimarama warned that the bill would spur conflict within ethnic-Fijian communities and could take Fijians back to the days of grass skirts and cannibalism. In a follow-on interview with the Fiji Sun newspaper Bainimarama reportedly suggested U.S. encouragement of frank and open discussion at the mid-September Pacific Armies Management Seminar (PAMS) in Nadi motivated his speaking out publicly yet again. We countered that claim by reaffirming publicly the strongly held USG belief that a military must be subordinate to the elected civilian leadership in a democracy. "All powerful" military's not-so-veiled threats -------------- -- ¶3. (C) When Bainimarama returned from a visit to UN Headquarters in New York at the end of September, he continued his inflammatory public remarks. In media interviews on Columbus Day weekend, he expressed frustration that PM Qarase has failed to listen to the RFMF's views on a series of issues. In particular, Bainimarama called on the PM and several of his Ministers to resign because of allegations they were implicated in an agricultural-funding scam dating from 2001 and currently subject of a criminal trial. He reportedly said if the Ministers don't resign, "we will deal with this." In another interview, Bainimarama reportedly said "the RFMF is all powerful and has outlived a lot of governments and people. In the next couple of weeks, we will find out who does the huffing and puffing." At the time, Qarase was in Australia for a business conference. In a media interview he reportedly dismissed the resignation call and reiterated his interest in curbing such military outbursts via a Supreme Court advisory opinion on the military's constitutional roles. Opposition Leader Beddoes and former PM and Opposition Leader Chaudhry issued statements that expressed a degree of understanding for Bainimarama's frustrations and support for his call that politicians implicated in corrupt practices must resign. Motivating factors: controversial bills -------------- ¶4. (C) Several political/security factors probably play into Bainimarama's renewed media campaign. First, Qarase has introduced two controversial bills (qoliqoli and land-claims tribunals) to Parliament, despite Bainimarama's firm advice not to do so. A controversial "truth and reconciliation" bill waits in the wings. Fiji's multi-party Cabinet experiment, dating from May elections, so far has generated a SUVA 00000425 002 OF 003 surprisingly cooperative atmosphere (ref C); but the controversial bills will test the Cabinet's resiliency and ability to work through tough issues. Bainimarama clearly has no trust that PM Qarase will, in the end, display good faith in handling the bills. Possible Supreme Court advisory opinion -------------- ¶5. (C) Second, a few weeks ago, Qarase formally asked President Iloilo to seek a Supreme Court opinion on the RFMF's legitimate roles under Fiji's current Constitution. Prior to the May elections at a time when Bainimarama had RFMF truth squads going from village to village to campaign against Qarase's party, the PM announced that, if reelected, he would seek the judicial opinion. Bainimarama believes the RFMF retains broad national-security powers it gave itself under the military-drafted 1990 constitution that followed two coups in 1987. Most legal experts believe Fiji's 1997 Constitution deleted the broad RFMF powers and placed the military in the usual subordinate relationship to the civilian government in a democracy. ¶6. (C) A delegation of senior RFMF officers approached President Iloilo while Bainimarama was in New York, reportedly to confirm their loyalty to their Commander and to ask the President not to forward Qarase's request to the Supreme Court. Bainimarama and Iloilo are close. It was Bainimarama who secured the Presidency for Iloilo after the illegal change of government in 2000. On the other hand, Vice President Madraiwiwi, a lawyer, believes strongly that the President has no discretion on forwarding a PM's request to the Court and has so advised Iloilo. For the moment, Madraiwiwi tells us, the request has gone to the Attorney General's office for a bit of refining, and it is not to be transmitted to the Court unless the President gives his blessing. We are told PM Qarase believes Iloilo will so bless. The VP hopes that will happen but is not overconfident. Court martial or Prison Commissioner? -------------- ¶7. (C) A third motivation for Bainimarama is that the Qarase Government recently proposed Col. Baledrokadroka as a candidate to become Commissioner of Prisons. Baledrokadroka faces a court-martial within the next few weeks on charges he attempted to organize an RFMF mutiny against Bainimarama last January (ref D). There were rumors at the time that Baledrokadroka's effort was encouraged by the Home Affairs Ministry. The Prisons nomination could be a reward. Bainimarama recently stated publicly: "that (assignment) will not happen." Other RFMF senior officers indicated the same. Fiji's Public Service Commission, which is labeled "non partisan," announced on 10/12 that the position is to be "re-advertized." Bainimarama must be pleased. Agriculture scam: ministers implicated? -------------- ¶8. (C) Yet another motivation seems to be the agriculture-scam trial, now under way in the courtroom of Justice Shameem. PM Qarase and several Ministers from his previous government have been called as witnesses. The defendant is a former Agriculture CEO who allegedly facilitated pork-barrel transfers to ethnic-Fijian districts in the lead-up to Fiji's 2001 elections that confirmed Qarase's place as PM. So far, it is not clear at all that any Qarase Minister will be indicted, though there are plenty of rumors of malfeasance from that time. Several newspaper editorials have pointed out that Bainimarama's call for resignations appears very premature. Bainimarama's next steps? -------------- ¶9. (C) Aside from the motives, what are Bainimarama's likely next steps? One possibility is that the latest flurry is simply bluff, yet again. He wants his "national security" views on political issues to win the day. He figures threats of force can motivate action. During the past several years, Bainimarama has repeatedly issued such threats to remove the Qarase government. To date, he hasn't implemented them. ¶10. (C) On the other hand, Bainimarama seems at the moment, given the above-listed motivations, to be truly piqued and to have a degree of support from most of his hand-picked senior officers. Many of them have publicly backed Bainimarama's red line on the Baledrokadroka nomination. Many of them SUVA 00000425 003 OF 003 reportedly joined the excursion to lobby President Iloilo. We note that Bainimarama has long had a "coup" scenario sketched on a blackboard behind a curtain in his office. That may be for show, but it could also be for real. If real, travel plans for the next month could delay implementation. Bainimarama is to depart Oct. 14 on a trip to Rome (MFO) and the Middle East. Shortly after returning in early November, he is to be off again to the CHODs conference in Malaysia. ¶11. (C) A complicating factor is that, while Fiji has suffered from a "coup culture," with two military coups in 1987 and a civilian-led one in 2000, all those events were against ethnic-Indian-dominated governments. Removing the ethnic-Fijian-dominated Qarase government, that has now won two elections and last May had the overwhelming support of ethnic-Fijian voters, could be a very hard sell to the RFMF's overwhelmingly ethnic-Fijian force. A calm but watchful approach -------------- ¶12. (C) At the moment, Suva is calm. VP Madraiwiwi, who hopes to have another in a series of meetings with Bainimarama shortly, yesterday advised us not to get overly excited just yet. We are following that advice, while also ensuring that our emergency-action processes are tuned up, just in case. DINGER