Fijian peacekeepers should go home - Greens
Green MP Keith Locke wants Fijiian troops under New Zealand
command to be
sent home from East Timor, and Fiji to be
excluded from all future UN
peacekeeping missions.
"The
Fiji military's capitulation to George Speight means that it
must be
treated as an enemy of democracy," said Mr Locke,
the Green's foreign
affairs spokesperson.
"They've
even rewarded the army officers who executed the coup,
accepting
them back into the fold at full
rank."
"Fijian troops should be banned from current and
future UN peacekeeping
missions, and we should have
nothing further to do with the Fiji military
until there
is a return to democracy."
New Zealand is directly
involved with Fijian troops in East Timor, with
Fijian
soldiers effectively under New Zealand command in the Suai
area.
"The Government should ask UNTAET to replace the
Fijian troops as quickly as
possible," said Mr Locke.
"New Zealand should also insist that any UN money owing
to Fiji for
peacekeeping is withheld until constitutional
government is restored."
Mr Locke said Fiji's military is
largely sustained by UN funds, and gets
much of its mana
from its peacekeeping role.
"Pulling the plug now would be
a good wakeup call to them. They allowed
George Speight
and his men to overthrow democracy in Fiji. It must be
made
clear that this is unacceptable to New Zealand and
other democratic
countries."