FIJI'S TENTATIVE FIRST STEP AT DIALOGUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SUVA 000411

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP PDAS GLYN DAVIES, EAP/ANP, INR/EAP
HQ USPACOM FOR LTC JEN HUGHES AND DR. SUSAN CAMPBELL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2018
TAGS: PGOV FJ
SUBJECT: FIJI'S TENTATIVE FIRST STEP AT DIALOGUE

REF: 07 STATE 159935

Classified By: AMBASSADOR C. STEVEN MCGANN FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) (D)


1. (SBU) Summary: Ambassador C. Steven McGann and Embassy
officers met with Dr. Sitiveni "Steven" Halapua of the
East-West Center in Hawaii to discuss Halapua's views on the
Presidential Political Dialogue Forum meeting he helped
facilitate on October 27. The session drew Fijian political
leaders of all stripes together in their first meaningful
public exchange since the December 2006 coup. Participants
agreed to set an agenda and terms of reference for a possible
second meeting in five weeks' time to further discussion. An
Embassy officer met separately with retired Australian
Foreign Service officer Robin Nair who also served as a
facilitator. These talks were a cautious start to a
political dialogue aimed at establishing a framework for a
return to constitutional government. The discussions did not
address the underlying causes for the December 2006 coup or
reveal any indication that the interim government would
return to its promise to hold elections in March 2009. End
Summary.


2. (C) Halapua described the atmospherics of the meeting. He
noted that there is an inner struggle going on within Fiji's
ruling Military Council and between some members of the
Council and interim Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama. Some
of the Council agreed with the interim attorney general's
argument that the High Court had legitimized the interim
government (IG) in its recent decision denying a challenge to
Bainimarama brought by Laisenia Qarase, Fiji's last elected
prime minister. The attorney general reportedly argued that
the IG can now choose to move slowly, if at all, toward a
return to parliamentary democracy. Halapua commented that a
strong plea by Presidential Advisor John Samy averted a
decision by the IG to abort the October 27 meeting.
Participants, Halupua said, appeared to grasp that election
reform is the key issue and a timeline for elections the most
important next step.


3. (C) Halapua noted that Bainimarama is serious about
moving this process forward only because he wants to leave
behind a legacy built on electoral reforms. He added that
he, Nair, and Samy had had three prior meetings with
Bainimarama to persuade him not to chair the political
dialogue like a military meeting. Bainimarama initially
believed that the meeting would require only 30 minutes. The
three eventually convinced Bainimarama to be more flexible,
inclusive, and to listen. Bainimarama then re-scheduled the
meeting for three hours. Halapua said that the two observers
from the Military Council, Colonels Pita Driti and Mohammed
Aziz, did not appear to support agreement on an election
timetable, and Bainimarama did not press for one either.
Halapua believed that Bainimarama and team do not know where
they are headed with the political dialogue.


4. (SBU) In response to a question from Ambassador regarding
whom he should meet in his first days in office, Halapua
suggested Catholic Bishop Mataca, Colonels Driti and Aziz,
the interim attorney general, and Samy, as these are the
people who most influence Bainimarama. In response to
questioning, Halapua indicated that Samy is aware that Fiji's
economic viability will affect the sustainability of the
regime and might be inclined to include benchmarks and
timelines leading to new elections.
Ambassador suggested to Halapua that he work with key
participants to seek agreement on developing a non-binding
discussion paper for the follow-on meeting. Halapua replied
that he had not thought of that but liked the suggestion. He
agreed to discuss it with Samy and Nair, suggesting that Nair
work on summarizing the "commonalities" (i.e., areas of
agreement and disagreement) and terms of reference while
Halapua works on the discussion paper.


5. (SBU) In a separate meeting, Robin Nair told an Embassy
officer that the IG had not expected the dialogue to go as
well as it did. The IG had thought that the opposition
parties would all gang up against it, but that had not
occurred. Nair said that although a number of the parties
stressed the need for an early return to elections, none of
them mentioned the March 2009 timeline earlier promised by
Bainimarama. He commented that Qarase's was the only fully
fleshed presentation given by the opposition. Qarase's
carefully crafted remarks were conciliatory in tone and
supportive of electoral and constitutional reform, saying
that he would make these a priority of the next government.
With respect to the "People's Charter," Qarase said he would
be willing to see it discussed as a priority item by the next
parliament. In a major departure from his previous practice,
Nair noted that Qarase referred to Bainimarama as "prime
minister" rather than "interim prime minister."


6. (SBU) Adding additional flavor, Nair revealed that Former
Prime Minister and Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry
also was conciliatory while pressing for elections. Chaudhry
supported electoral reform in general but had "some
reservations." Opposition Leader Mick Beddoes lauded the
meeting as a good start and pressed for an early follow-on
meeting. Beddoes had originally intended to dispute the
statement included in the meeting's final declaration that
recognized the independence of Fiji's judiciary. When Qarase
did not challenge the statement, however, Beddoes decided to
remain mute instead. Nair said that Bainimarama had
originally intended to give his own remarks as Chair of the
meeting at the end of the meeting. He instead delivered his
largely conciliatory statement at the beginning, which helped
set a positive tone for the meeting. Nair stated that
Bainimarama considered the fact that having military
observers present at the dialogue meeting might result in
undesirable optics but decided that it was better having the
Military Council inside, rather than outside, the "tent." He
also did not want his military advisors to be "faceless."


7. (SBU) According to Nair, the IG discovered before the
meeting that the three major opposition parties (Qarase's
SDL, Beddoes' UPP, and the NFP) had agreed to a coordinated
strategy in the talks; however, said Nair, their subsequent
actions during the meeting did not seem to bear that out. He
pointed specifically to the lack of a coordinated challenge
by Qarase and Beddoes to the collective statement regarding
judicial independence, despite opportunities during recesses
to work out any differences. When asked whether he thought
that some of the political opposition to the IG had caucused
before the meeting, Halapua's impression seemed different
from Nair's. He said without elaboration that he did believe
that to be the case because of their common approaches on
some issues.


8. (SBU) The meeting adjourned sine die but with the
understanding that it would meet again after approximately
five weeks, which would allow Halapua and Nair sufficient
time to review the proceedings, transcribe a verbatim record
based on sound recordings, draft a paper outlining areas of
agreement and disagreement, draft an agreement on terms of
reference for the PPDF, and distribute these to participants.
(Comment: The five weeks hiatus also appears to be
contrived by the IG for the purpose of allowing Bainimarama
and others sufficient time to travel to Brussels and to work
on a new budget for the IG. End comment.) Nair said that
participants also were asked to bring to the next meeting
papers outlining their own concrete proposals.


9. (SBU) Comment: The October 27 meeting was a tentative
move forward. Although Bainimarama faced resistance on the
part of his attorney general and the Military Council, he
decided to go ahead with the dialogue. It is, however, too
early to credit the interim government with committing to
genuine dialogue. We will meet with the dialogue
participants to encourage progress toward reconciliation.
End comment.
MCGANN