KEY POINTS:
The Government made representations to the United Nations after the Fiji coup asking it to stop using Fijian troops for peacekeeping - but they were rejected, Helen Clark said yesterday.
She was responding to criticism by National and the Green Party that the Government hadn't taken a strong enough stance on the issue, after it was revealed the UN has engaged more Fijian troops.
Helen Clark said: "We've made it very clear to the UN that we do not believe they should be using Fijian troops. It's a considerable irony that when you look at the UN mission in Iraq which is to try to help restore some kind of decent Government and democracy that Fiji troops are welcome there.
"We've made our point of view very clear. Unfortunately our point of view did not get support from either the United States or the United Kingdom or the UN bureaucracy.
"Shortly after the Fiji coup, when we announced the measures we were taking our ambassador herself went to the UN, so we did it at the most senior level in New York and made it very clear that we did not think that Fiji troops should be supporting these exercises." Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had initially indicated he supported the Government's stance.
Asked what had changed, Helen Clark said: "There has been a change of the Secretary General, there's a lot of pressure on the UN to maintain a mission in Iraq, it's very, very dangerous there."
Green MP Keith Locke said the UN peacekeeping had become a money spinner for Fijian governments, because they took a portion of the salaries. More than 500 Fijian troops were with the UN or Sinai peacekeeping forces. Fiji had 3500 Army reservists, well in excess of what it needed.
