FIJI UPDATE: NEW ZEALAND TRAVEL POLICIES UNDER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SUVA 000581 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/28/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR CVIS FJ TW SUBJECT: FIJI UPDATE: NEW ZEALAND TRAVEL POLICIES UNDER FIRE (AGAIN),IG CRITIC DROWNS, TAIWAN SLUSH FUND UNDER SCRUTINY; BAINIMARAMA IN IRAQ REF: SUVA 552 Classified By: CDA Ted Mann, Sec. 1.4 (B,D). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) New Zealand's decision to ban nine Fiji children from attending a regional Boy Scout Jamboree because their parents are in the Fiji military has drawn sustained criticism across the political spectrum in Fiji. A retired Colonel who last month strongly attacked the military and the interim government for its policies toward ethnic Fijian institutions died in a boating accident December 22. An Auditor General's Report slammed the deposed Qarase government for misuse of funds provided by Taiwan. Commodore Bainimarama arrived in Iraq December 22 and is scheduled to return to Fiji December ¶31. End summary. New Zealand Policies Under Fire -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Fiji media has had a field day with a pre-Christmas Government of New Zealand decision to refuse to issue visas to nine Fiji children planning on attending a regional Boy Scout Jamboree. The GNZ asked the Boy Scouts not to send in applications for the children because their parents are in the Fiji military. Forty-seven children from Fiji attended the Jamboree. Each day in the past week papers have run articles quoting Fiji or New Zealand commentators lambasting the move as insensitive and lacking common sense. Dozens of letters to the editor have been published, wondering how the GNZ can punish small children for the actions of their parents. The December 27 Fiji Times - a frequent critic of the Interim Government - called New Zealand's travel bans "a joke," noting that Fiji's Minister of Education was recently allowed into New Zealand for a regional conference and that PM Office Permanent Secretary Parmesh Chand is currently in New Zealand tending to his sick wife. The Times argued that New Zealand's case by case approach to its travel ban is an exercise in hypocrisy and that the country "cannot continue to play flip-flop politics with Fiji and other Pacific states." Prominent IG Critic Drowns -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Retired RFMF Colonel Savenaca Draunidalo, a minister in the deposed Qarase government, drowned December 22 after a boating accident in his home island in the Lau Group. There are no indications of foul play. Draunidalo had made headlines in Fiji on November 28 (reftel) when he strongly criticized IG decisions that suspended the Great Council of Chiefs, downgraded the Ministry of Fijian Affairs and changed functions of the Native Lands Trust Board. Obituaries in the press generally passed over these recent comments and focused on Draunidalo's military and political career. Auditor General's Report Slams Qarase on Use of Taiwan Funds -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) The 2007 Auditor General's (AG) report released in late December slammed the Qarase government for the misuse of funds provided to the PM's Office by Taiwan. The AG report said the PM's Office failed to comply with Fiji financial regulations in disbursement of the funds. The AG report noted that the PM's office spent about FJ$770,000 of the Taiwan money to draft and advertise Qarase's speeches and used the funds to cover shortfalls in the PM's Office budget. Jioji Kotobalavu, former PM Office CEO, told reporters that Taiwan had funded Qarase's main speechwriter since 2001. The AG's report also criticized the former government's handling of clothing and other donations from Taiwan. Qarase denied that he had ever misused Taiwan money, saying all expenditures stemming from Taiwan grants to Fiji were always above board and accounted for. (Comment: We have been told by the Taiwan Trade Office in Suva that Taiwan exercised very little oversight over the funds it provided to the Prime Minister's Office during Qarase's tenure. To the best of our knowledge, Taiwan has not acceded to requests for continued funding from the interim regime. End comment.) Bainimarama in Iraq -------------- ¶5. (C) We understand that Commodore Bainimarama arrived in Baghdad via a commercial flight from Amman on December 22. He was apparently escorted into Baghdad via ground SUVA 00000581 002 OF 002 transportation provided by the Fijian contingent to the United Nations Mission Iraq (UNAMI). According to an interim government press release, Commodore Bainimarama spent Christmas in Baghdad with the UNAMI contingent. He also reportedly spoke to Fijian soldiers in Irbil via video-conference. According to the RFMF spokesman, Bainimarama will be returning to Fiji on December 31. MANN