FIJI MFA REITERATES: REMOVE STREET BARRIERS BY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SUVA 000220

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/16/2017
TAGS: AMGT ASEC CASC PREL FJ
SUBJECT: FIJI MFA REITERATES: REMOVE STREET BARRIERS BY
APRIL 20; EMBASSY RESPONSES; ACTION REQUEST

REF: A. SUVA 200


B. SUVA 207

C. STATE 48129

D. SUVA 213

E. SUVA 195

Classified By: Amb. Dinger. Sec. 1.4 (B,D).

Summary
--------------

1. (C) Fiji's interim government has given the Embassy until
COB April 20 to remove the vehicle barriers that block the
street in front of the chancery. The Suva City Council has
asked the Embassy to do the deed. Other correspondence
confirms the embassy has had permission to keep the street
closed, until now. In a meeting today, the Suva mayor
admitted the interim government is forcing the issue. Suva
City understands the embassy's security concerns, but is
powerless to assist. The barrier issue is receiving
significant media attention. We raise pro and con arguments
about who should do the dismantling, if it will occur. In
comment, we note that the street is Suva's, not the
embassy's. If it is to stay closed, the USG will have to
influence interim PM Bainimarama. The one response that
would certainly grab his attention is to threaten ongoing PKO
deployments. If the street does re-open, the chancery, with
absolutely no set-back, will be truly vulnerable at a time
when all Fiji security elements are either incapacitated or
busy "cleaning up" corruption. We await further Washington
guidance. End summary.

Another dipnote: open street by Friday, April 20
-------------- ---

2. (U) At OOB Monday, April 16, Embassy Suva found in its fax
machine the following diplomatic note from Fiji MFA, dated
April 13 and faxed late April 15:

(complimentary opening)...and has the honor to acknowledge
with thanks the receipt of the latter's Note No. 035 dated
April 12, 2007, requesting the review of the removal of
security barriers from Loftus Street by 13 April, 2007.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade has the
further honor to inform the Embassy of the United States that
after thorough consultations with those agencies and
government departments who are concerned and directly
involved with this matter, it has been decided that the
barriers are to be removed with effect from Friday 20 April,
2007, and Loftus Street is to be opened for unrestricted
access and normal thoroughfare by pedestrians and motorists.
(complimentary closing).

And a letter from the Suva City Council
--------------

3. (U) Subsequently this morning, the Embassy received a
letter dated April 16 from the Suva City Council Town Clerk,

I. Verenakadavu. The letter reads:

Removal of Barriers at Loftus Street

I am to communicate with due respect that the Council has
been directed by our Minister of Local Government to remove
your Embassy security barriers at Loftus Street.

Within this context please find enclosed are copies of our
Minister's letter to the Council and that of our Interim
Prime Minister to our Minister of Local Government.

In this regard it will be highly appreciated if your Embassy
takes up the responsibility of dismantling the security
barriers as your Embassy has also not complied with the
conditions stipulated in our letter dated 3 June 1999.

Ministerial correspondence
--------------

4. (U) We are faxing the letters from the interim PM and
interim Minister for Local Government to EAP/ANP. Boiled
down, on April 12, interim PM Bainimarama informed the
Minister for Local Government that, subsequent to the first
dipnote on the issue, it came to the interim PM's attention
that Suva City Council actually provided permission for the
barriers. Bainamarama now directs the Minister for Local
Government to instruct the Suva City Council to "get the
barriers removed" by COB Friday, April 20. The Minister for
Local Government's letter to the Suva Mayor, dated April 13,

SUVA 00000220 002 OF 003


instructs the City Council "to immediately withdraw earlier
approval it had granted" for the barriers and to remove the
barriers by COB that date. Included in the packet the Suva
City Council provided is correspondence from the Council to
Embassy Suva's admin officer of June 3, 1999, to approve
installing the barriers, subject to several conditions,
including that Fiji Police operate them, that they be
activated only in an emergency, and that advertisements be
put in the media whenever they are to be used.

And one more piece of correspondence
--------------

5. (SBU) The June 1999 approval letter was one piece of a
lengthy correspondence trail that extended from the initial
street closing shortly after the East Africa embassy bombings
in August 1998, up to at least September 2003. The initial
closing was under Fiji Police emergency-powers statutes. At
the time, the Embassy was investigating a possible terrorism
plot. Subsequently, the Suva City Council came to accept the
street closure was sensible protection for Fiji citizens,
including the bulk of embassy employees. In 2003, the
Council and the Embassy came close to signing a lease
allowing the Embassy to keep the street closed until 2009,
then the Council received legal advice it would set a bad
precedent. Still, in a letter dated Sept. 3, 2003, the Suva
Town Clerk made clear, "I need to emphasize that the Council
IS NOT AGAINST the partial closure of Loftus Street as well
as the enforcement and security checks on vehicles as per
your current practice as the Council views this as a prime
requisite to secure the safety of the Embassy Officials most
of whom are Fiji citizens."

Suva Mayor under pressure
--------------

6. (C) Given the state of play, on April 16 the Ambassador
sought calls on interim PM and Acting interim FM Bainimarama
(interim FM Nailatikau is in Brussels),interim Fijian
Affairs Minister Ganilau (whose ministry has an office
directly across from the chancery on Loftus Street),and Lord
Mayor of Suva Ratu Peni Volavola. The interim ministers have
not responded. In a noontime conversation at the Lord
Mayor's office, Volavola volunteered that Suva City Council
is "having a hard time working with" the interim government.
They issue demands, with no discussion. The Council sees no
way to resist the street-opening order. When the Mayor
raised the non-compliance issue (para 3),the Ambassador
noted that correspondence continued after 1999 and subsequent
arrangements were made, as is obvious from the 3 Sept. 2003
letter. Those arrangements have been complied with. A Fiji
Police officer routinely "leads" the embassy's security team
at the barriers to this day.


7. (C) The Ambassador stressed to the Mayor that global
terrorist threats continue. A State Department public
announcement was just extended yet again. Volavola
reiterated he would like to be helpful, but.... He said he
has told the interim Minister for Local Government that Suva
City Council does not have the resources to remove the
barriers. He asked Embassy Suva to do the dismantling. The
Ambassador said his instructions are that the embassy is not
to remove the barriers. That said, he ackowledged that the
street is Suva City property, not the embassy's. The
Ambassador noted that Suva City Council is well aware that
the Embassy intends to build a defensible NEC outside the
city center, which will free up Loftus Street in two years,
assuming OBO visas are granted (ref D). The Mayor suggested
that, since Fiji Police initially closed the street, perhaps
the Mayor and the Ambassador should meet with the Police
Commissioner. That meeting had not been confirmed by COB.

Media notes
--------------
8 (C) The barrier issue is receiving significant media
coverage (reporting the Bainimarama instructions),along with
Fiji military comment that perhaps the Australia and New
Zealand High Commissions should relocate from Suva (septel).
Mayor Volavola informed the media today that he has notified
Embassy Suva to remove the barriers by the end of the week.
He reportedly said Suva City does not have authority to
physically remove the barriers and will not do so; but it
will ensure the government's directive is followed. Volavola
said the City has heard from the Embassy that it will "not
impede any decision" taken to remove the roadblocks. This
presumably relates to an EAC decision of April 13 that if the
interim government attempts to remove the roadblocks, embassy

SUVA 00000220 003 OF 003


security personnel will not confront but will fall back to
the chancery. When door-stopped by Fiji TV outside the
Mayor's office, the Ambassador said only: "We are dealing
with a serious security issue and are attempting to do so
through diplomatic channels."

The barriers; an issue to consider
--------------

9. (C) The barriers are made of concrete and steel, with
manual hydraulic steel lifts. We have presumed that, not
wanting to make it appear the USG is acquiescing, we would
not remove the barriers ourselves but would watch from a
distance if the interim government sends workers in to do the
removal. It bears considering, though, that, if we presume a
future government would permit re-installation of the
barriers, we could agree to do the removal ourselves, thus
ensuring the arms, at least, could be re-used. We might also
attempt to save the bases for future use, though our guess is
the military would never allow it. Just last week, we saw
that bases, put in place a year ago by the UK High Commission
on city streets for vehicle barriers but not utilized once
the Qarase Government issued a veto, had been removed.

Comment
--------------

10. (C) Embassy Suva has always accepted that Loftus Street
belongs to Suva City, and, if Suva City really wants to, it
can re-open the street. From the initial negotiation with
MFA and Suva City in 1998 until now, we managed to keep the
road closed. Pretty clearly, the Suva City Council would be
willing to continue that arrangement for another two years,
until a new NEC is ready, except for the interim government's
pressure. (Note: NEC construction, of course, depends on
another problem: the interim government's refusal, to date,
to issue diplomatic visas to OBO overseers.) Bainimarama
made blatantly obvious late last week that the street
re-opening pressure is a tit-for-tat response to USG
post-coup sanctions. He indicated that he believes the U.S.
has no more ammo in its clip.


11. (C) We seek Washington guidance on next steps regarding
the barriers, and the NEC visa issue. If the interim
government removes the barriers this Friday, life will go on;
but the embassy community will be wide open to any terrorist
group that wants a soft target. Visa applicants, who line up
across the street before their appointments, would be
especially vulnerable. Prior to the coup, we had some
confidence in the Fiji Police Tactical Response Unit as an
additional protection. Bainimarama shut that unit down; and
the military, itself, is way too busy running the country and
"cleaning up" to spend much time worrying about Loftus
Street. Without the barriers, we will be truly vulnerable.
If necessary in coming days, we may need to utilize the media
aggressively to remind how the barriers respond to a real
threat and protect Fiji citizens as well as Americans. We do
not expect such arguments to sway Bainimarama. If he is to
be swayed, we believe it will only be by demonstration that
the USG has more ammo and is willing to use it. One option,
of course, is to reconsider Fiji's participation in
USG-funded MFO Sinai and/or in UN PKO. Any threat to Fiji's
on-going PKO deployments would certainly grab Bainimarama's,
and the Fiji military's attention.
DINGER