Samoan PM accuses Fiji PM of lying to Forum

Updated February 23, 2009 09:53:37

Samoa's prime minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, has accused his Fiji counterpart of lying to the Pacific islands Forum over the country's political future. He was responding to statements from Fiji interim prime minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama that Samoa had joined Australia and New Zealand in putting pressure on small island states at the recent Forum summit in Papua New Guinea to support a deadline for Fiji to announce a return to democracy. Tuilaepa has questioned the Commodore Bainimarama's state of mind, saying he might have been drunk or it may have been a full moon when he made those comments. The Samoan prime minister told Bruce Hill Fiji's leadership has not told Pacific leaders the truth about their political intentions.

presenter: Bruce Hill
Speaker: Samoa's prime minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi

Tuilaepa: My initial reaction to the comments made by Commodore Bainimarama was one of complete surprise. I thought that these comments reflected a leader who completely could not understand the issues that are emanating from the forum and his responsibility as a leader of another country to comply with the principles upon which the forum was established. To me, Bainimarama is quite ignorant of the democratic processes that all leaders of the forum ought to observe.

HILL: Commodore Bainimarama made a particular point of lumping Samoa in with Australia and New Zealand, when he accused all three countries of bullying the other smaller countries into supporting suspending Fiji if they don't meet this deadline. Why do you think he did that?

Tuilaepa: I think he's trying to find some stupid clowns to hide behind his own failure to honour his commitment. He was deliberately lying to the forum. And when he sent that young attorney-general, he again the attorney-general came again and lied through his teeth to the forum. I think all he was trying to do was to try was to try to invoke some kind of sympathy that there was a deliberate attempt by the three countries, Australia, New Zealand and Samoa. What he was hiding was that no-one was forcing Bainimarama.

HILL: You've taken a very strong stand about this, the chair of the forum Toki Toolangi of the UN has taken a very strong stand, Australia and New Zealand have taken a very strong stand, the Melanesian countries however, seem to want to take a more understanding view towards the Fiji interim government. Is there a danger of difference of opinion within the forum, about how to handle Fiji between Polynesia and Melanesia?

Tuilaepa: No, I don't think there is any problem in that. As you know, we have taken a very restrained attitude up to now. When Bainimarama began to unleash those comments on Samoa, I think I have an obligation to respond.

HILL: Rather than perhaps talk about what he said, do you have any message for the people in Fiji, rather than the interim government itself?

Tuilaepa: Well, I can tell you I am having a lot of communications from NGOs and from individuals in Fiji, also asking me to help out, by speaking out on issues that I have addressed in the statements that I have released. There is one thing that I need to stress again is that we are an independent country, many, many years before Fiji became independent and we did not arrive at that independence without expressing our very strong wish to the leaders of New Zealand, at the time, that we wanted our independence. Why I am saying is that I am delivering a message to Mr Bainimarama that we did not get our independence hands down.