Reeves disappointed with Fiji visit
Updated
The Commonwealth's representative, Sir Paul Reeves, says he hopes that his visit to Fiji last week will be the start of a new dialogue process with the country's military backed regime, but he can't say when the next visit will go ahead. Sir Paul spent three days in Fiji, meeting a number of times with interim Prime Minister Commodor Frank Bainimarama, but was not allowed to visit other politicians.
Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speaker: Sir Paul Reeves
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HILL: You're listening to Pacific Beat, good afternoon, I am Bruce Hill.
Joining us today from Auckland is Sir Paul Reeves, the Commonwealth Special Envoy who has returned from a visit to Fiji.
Good afternoon Sir Paul. You were not able to meet with any Opposition politicians. Did that disappoint you?
REEVES: Quite right Bruce. We were told that either formally or informally, we should not make contact with Mr. Qarase, Mahendra Choudhury or Ms Bettoes. We respected the instruction, but it indeed was a grave disadvantage that we could not talk to those people.
HILL: Did you ever consider perhaps just ignoring that instruction and just meeting them anyway?
REEVES: Well, we considered that, but we did not go down that route, although I think that by the time we left, we had been in touch with each other.
HILL: How was that achieved?
REEVES: It's something called a telephone.
HILL: Did you meet with the interim prime minister, Commodore Bainimarama?
REEVES: Oh yes, we got there on a Tuesday, and Tuesday night the three members of the Commonwealth delegation, that was the Commodore and the attorney-general for dinner. That lasted a couple of hours. And the next day, Wednesday, we had the formal session where the Commodore met with the Commonwealth delegation, that took about another hour-and-a-half. And then on the Thursday, the day before we left, a one-on-one with the Commodore for an hour, so indeed we had a lot of time in each others company.
HILL: And what was your impression of his plan to take Fiji back to democracy within five years?
REEVES: Well, I felt firstly that he feels confident and secure within the space that sanctions have created. They don't seem to have dislodged him from his resolve or his sense of purpose. As you may know, the strategic framework for change which he set out said that the Constitution would be written in 2012 and available in 2013 in the electoral laws for people to scrutinise for the election itself in 2014. Now that time frame is not something which the Commonwealth could support. It seems to us to be to far away, and secondly, it does not contain what we think is an essential element, which is political dialogue, which should be in our terms independent, all inclusive, time bound and with no pre-determined outcomes.
The Commodore told us that he wishes to have a space in order to deal with economic affairs of the country before he gets onto the political affairs. Well, all I would say is that there is a distinct relationship between political stability on the one hand and a sound economic base on the other.
HILL: Fiji's economy seems to be sliding backwards in many, many areas. Do you get the impression that Commodore Bainimarama entirely grasps this?
REEVES: I think he has an optimistic view of the economy of Fiji and that he does not seem to be put off by recent events. That Qantas would like to bail out of Air Pacific and that the sugar payments of the EU are seemingly locked up somewhere in Brussels and are not coming forth and we heard that while tourist hotels are full, may be that does represent discounted prices and nothing much by way of profit back through the operators. But, inspite of all that, the Commodore was positive and thinks that Fiji is managing its way to the future and that when the world economic crisis subsides, then Fiji will show signs of vast improvement.
HILL: Do you or other people you met in Fiji share that view?
REEVES: It is a viewpoint which is overly optimistic and one which I think does not reflect the realities as it was told to us by other economic interests and business people working on the ground in Fiji itself.
HILL: Well, you've been there, you've met with Commodore Bainimarama. You were not allowed to meet anyone in the Opposition, although as you say you have managed to get through to them by phone. Is this the end of this particular engagement between Fiji and the Commonwealth? Is there anywhere to go from here or is it over?
REEVES: Eh Bruce, I think it's a medium term operation here. The sanctions leave space for the Commonwealth to work with Fiji in the efforts to return to democracy. Fiji is still a member of the Commonwealth, that suspension is not expulsion. Fiji says that they cherish the membership of the Commonwealth and they chose the institution called the Queen. Well, the fact that we went there was I think in itself a good thing, that we could talk, and that we could discuss contentious issues, and I believe we can go back again and do that. But I don't think we can have the rerun of an old movie here, that we were looking for signs of compromise which will give us the opportunity to say yes, there is an ability to join with you and deal with some of these matters that are outstanding as far as the political realities of Fiji are concerned.
I believe that our next visit to Fiji will not happen until the times are opportune.
HILL: And when do you think that might be?
REEVES: Well, I don't know. It's a very volatile situation. It could change rapidly. We, I think, just have to retain a sense of readiness. I had anticipated going back there again this year. I can't see it at the moment, but you know who knows what might happen and we will stay in touch, keep the communications open with Fiji, and be available to them, but on a basis that makes sense to us.
HILL: Well Sir Paul Reeves, thanks very much for joining us on Pacific Beat this afternoon, and good luck with your endeavours there.
REEVES: Thanks Bruce.
