Press Release – Melanesian Spearhead Group

1. The Chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), in consultation with other MSG Leaders, agreed to convene a Special Meeting of the MSG Leaders at the Tanoa International Hotel, Nadi, Fiji on 02 September 2011. 2. The Special Meeting was … 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 Voreqe Bainimarama. Photo: Graham Davis/Grubstreet

Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Thakur Ranjit Singh

As the aroma of the Fijian lovo and the spicy chicken curry drifted from the buffet table, the tang of kokoda was also enticing. The taste buds choice for Pacific delegates wasn’t easy. But there was no such dilemma when it came to showing support for Fiji and Bainimarama’s path for the nation.

The Vale Ni Bose (Great Council of Chiefs) complex in Nasese, Suva, served as an appropriate venue for the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) summit late last week.

When the meeting ended, it turned out to be another slap in the face of Australia and New Zealand’s view Fiji. Not that they were not warned. Read more »

Fiji's Voreqe Bainimarama: Kava ... and a Melanesian slap in the face for Australia. Photo: Graham Davis/Grubsheet

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Graham Davis

Australia’s impotence in influencing events in its own backyard is being demonstrated in dramatic fashion this week as the Fijian dictator, Voreque “Frank” Bainimarama, fulfils his long-held ambition to assume the chairmanship of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

All of the other Melanesian leaders – from Papua New Guinea, the Solomons, Vanuatu plus the Kanak FLNKS from New Caledonia – are joining Bainimarama for the MSG summit in Suva on Thursday.

It’s also being attended by official representatives from Indonesia, East Timor and – strangely – the European Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which has no Pacific interest whatsoever in the normal course of events but is also about to deliver its own slap in the face to Australia. But more on that later. Read more »

Monday night, Radio Fiji reported Australia’s foreign affairs minister Stephen Smith (pictured left, with NZ foreign minister Murray McCully) admitted Australia had indeed been lobbying against the meeting. (Photo by Selwyn Manning, courtesy Scoop.co.nz.)

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Thakur Ranjit Singh.

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has accused Australia and New Zealand of working behind the scenes to derail the upcoming Melanesian Spearhead Group meeting scheduled at Natadola Resort, Nadi on 22 and 23 July, 2010.

This comes in the wake of deferment of the scheduled meeting by the Chair of MSG, the Vanuatu Prime Minister Edward Natapei. The deferment is attributed to what Natapei calls an “impasse over Fiji’s hosting and chairmanship of the event needed to be resolved.’ Fiji Sun reported. Read more »

Editor of Savali, Tupuola Terry Tavita: (Photo courtesy of Savali.)

Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Tupuola Terry Tavita.

The deteriorating situation in Fiji is of major concern to the region. Particularly Pacific Island countries with military and para-military services.

We could imagine that several commanders in the vast military forces of Papua New Guinea – and to a lesser extent Solomon Islands and Vanuatu and even Tonga – are now eyeing developments in Fiji closely.

No doubt it is giving leaders like Sir Michael Somare some sleepless nights. If it could happen in Fiji, why not other Pacific countries with armies of their own? Read more »

Vanuatu will host this year's Pacific Island Forum in Port Vila in August. (Photo courtesy of the Government of Vanuatu.)

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Selwyn Manning.

Vanuatu’s Parliament has voted to support West Papua’s indigenous peoples right to self determination, seeking to have its independence noted and observer status granted at the Melanesian Spearhead Group and Pacific Island Forum leaders summit meeting.

Vanuatu’s prime minister has committed himself to tabling the proposal at Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and Pacific Island Forum (PIF) summits this year. Read more »

Scott MacWilliam on a strategy rethink for Fiji. Photo: ANU

Pacific.Scoop
Opinion – By Scott MacWilliam in Canberra

The latest development in ANZ-Fiji relations shows clearly why the model of sanctions being imposed on the South Pacific nation-state encourages tit-for-tat, ill-conceived moves by all parties.

While one view is that ANZ governments have been deliberately egging on the Fiji military government to become ever more extreme, this seems a less likely explanation than another possibility.
Read more »