Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara ... father of the "Pacific Way". Graphic: PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Comment – By Eni F. H. Falaomavaega

It has been said among Samoan traditional fishermen that if you get stung by the spines of the Alamea (crown-of-thorns starfish), you should turn the starfish over and have its spongy-like feet touch the area where you have been stung.

Although this is no laughing matter as the toxic chemicals in the spines could prove fatal, Samoans believe the Alamea will heal its own doing, hence, the Samoan proverb, “E fofo ele Alamea le Alamea.”

When matters arise between two parties and conflicts develop, resolution is found by finding the soft side within. Read more »

TVNZ's Pacific affairs reporter Barbara Dreaver reports on the latest regime crackdown. Photo: TVNZ

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Epeli Takuwasa in Suva and PMC newsdesk

Fiji police are trying to find out who was behind fugitive former military colonel Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara’s sudden escape to Tonga.

Police spokesperson Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri said they had established that Mara had a few associates who helped him flee the country.

Sokomuri said most of these individuals were now being investigated by police while New Zealand media reported the questioning of two Kiwi associates. Read more »

Lieutenant-Colonel Tevita Mara aka Roko Ului ... new dissident leader for Fiji? Photo: Graham Davis

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Graham Davis

A bizarre rerun of the political intrigues of the 19th century South Seas aristocracy is being played out at a stately royal residence on the waterfront of the sleepy Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa.

Consular House was once the home of the British High Commissioner to Tonga and the lion and the unicorn still gaze majestically down from the wall in the foyer.

But now the timber tropical pile with its push out shutters houses the region’s latest and most celebrated political refugee – a Fijian chief who has sought sanctuary with his distant kinsmen, the monocle-wearing King George Tupou V. Read more »

Fiji's Frank Bainimarama ... dogged persistence. Photo: Graham Davis

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Graham Davis

The Australian foreign policy establishment has been plunged into an agonising debate with the gradual realisation that Canberra’s long-standing hardline approach to events in Fiji has failed.

The bipartisan consensus between Labor and the Coalition that the diplomatic cold shoulder and targeted sanctions would eventually bring the Bainimarama regime to heel has been shattered.

And now a high-level public split has emerged that would have once been unthinkable between Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and the most prestigious Australian think-tank on Melanesian affairs – the Lowy Institute. Read more »

Fiji's leader Voreqe Bainimarama: Entrenched in power and new strategic thinking needed. Photo: Fiji One News

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Gerald McGhie

Interim Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s track record does little to encourage those who look to an early negotiated settlement to the current coup/crisis.  But the coup is now in its fourth year and Bainimarama remains well entrenched.  Action to date has not brought him to the negotiating table.

Given the unproductive rhetoric and exhortation from both sides, the stand-off seems likely to continue. Should New Zealand be looking for alternative approaches?

The short answer is “yes” but power struggles, ethnic and land disputes have a habit of  locking themselves into the DNA of Pacific communities. Given the essential complexity of the problem there can be no quick fix or short term solutions to the issues surrounding Fiji.
Read more »

Fiji's military regime leader and Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama. (Photo by Selwyn Manning, courtesy of Scoop.)

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Crosbie Walsh.

Pacific Scoop Editor’s Note: Emeritus professor of the University of the South Pacific, Crosbie Walsh, has written a special feature on Fiji, examining beyond the veneer of reportage in a three-part analysis piece.

Prof. Walsh’s work is thought provoking, probing, always controversial and consequently raises issues that stimulate a well overdue debate. This series was first published on his blog: Fiji The Way It Was, Is and Can Be. Read more »

Lieutenant-Colonel Neumi Leweni (right) with regime leader Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama. Photo: PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Steven Ratuva

After New Zealand offered an olive branch to Fiji to ease diplomatic tension between the two countries, Fiji responded in two unexpected ways.

Read more »

Lieutenant-Colonel Neumi Leweni (right) with regime leader Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama. Photo: PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Crosbie Walsh

Having spent 20 minutes on Radio New Zealand in an interview with Bryan Crump this week, arguing a case that the nomination of Lieutenant-Colonel Neumi Leweni – the regime’s chief media minder -  as Fiji diplomatic counsellor in Wellingon is not provocative, I read that Brigadier-General Pita Driti said on Radio Tarana that Fiji is “testing” New Zealand’s sincerity. Read more »

Regime leader Voreqe Bainimarama ... "bans are little more than an inconvenience, but mark Australia and New Zealand out as particularly mean-spirited and petty". Photo: Selwyn Manning, Scoop

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Scott MacWilliam

Now that New Zealand has started to recognise the need to change its previous hard-line against the military regime in Fiji, a range of suggestions are being made about the most appropriate policy changes.

One move, proposed recently by Croz Walsh, is for the removal of travel sanctions which have discouraged some of Fiji’s most talented people from applying for government positions. Read more »

Murray McCully ... crucial meeting with Ratu Inoke Kubuabola. Photo: AFP

Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Crosbie Walsh

Murray McCully’s recent statements on Fiji suggest a much more realistic appraisal of the situation than was evident under the former Labour-led government, and an improvement on his own earlier statements.

McCully’s meeting with Fiji Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola last week will bolster diplomatic representation. It did not change NZ’s basic position — elections with which it is prepared to assist in whatever ways it can — but it was a crucial first step. Read more »