Secrecy cloaks Peters' visit

Voreqe Bainimarama

Winston Peters is planning to meet Fiji military chief Voreqe Bainimarama this week during his first Pacific visit as Foreign Minister and his first official trip of the year.

But the highly unusual move is veiled in sensitivity and secrecy.

Mr Peters' office would neither confirm nor deny his planned meeting with the commander, whom he has met previously at sporting events in New Zealand.

But Mr Peters is expected to get an inside briefing from the strongman, who believes the Fiji Government has gone soft on dealing with coup participants and military mutineers.

Commodore Bainimarama sparked a political crisis last month when he told the media the military was willing to return to power to do the job he thought the Government should have done since the 2000 coup and an attempted mutiny against him five months later.

Great sensitivity surrounds Mr Peters' visit because Fiji, like any small country, is greatly offended by any interference in domestic affairs, perceived or real, justified or not.

And Mr Peters himself is sensitive about media coverage of his earlier outings as Foreign Minister to South Korea and Malta.

His office was initially reluctant to give out any details of the visit to Fiji, and had hoped that Mr Peters would be able to make the trip without any New Zealand media interest.

The meeting with the commodore is certain to have been okayed by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase.

The New Zealand Government restored its defence relationship with Fiji in late 2004.

Mr Peters will also meet Mr Qarase, Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and retiring Foreign Minister Kaliopate Tavola. He will see for himself how $5.3 million in New Zealand aid for the upcoming election has been spent and visit a squatter settlement near Lautoka, also the subject of a New Zealand aid project.

The trip was organised before the tensions flared up last month. They have not disappeared but have largely been kept from public view through a deal between Commodore Bainimarama and Mr Qarase brokered by the Acting President, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi.

The commodore has agreed to refrain from issuing public statements without telling the Government first, and the Government will involve him more in dialogue on security matters.

The website of Fiji-based Islands Business magazine reported yesterday that the meeting at which the agreement was reached was openly taped and that at one stage Commodore Bainimarama said the Army viewed the Prime Minister as "a liar".

Islands Business editor Laisa Taga said from Suva yesterday that she was surprised Mr Peters was meeting the head of the military rather than the minister responsible, Home Affairs.

She believed his Maori heritage could be an advantage in connecting with the Pacific.

Her magazine published a scathing editorial soon after Mr Peters was appointed, saying that Prime Minister Helen Clark was "the lady whose officials hectored and lectured the region about governance and stability and planning".

"Yet when push comes to shove she sleeps with the devil just to stay in office."

National foreign affairs spokesman Murray McCully described the planned Peters/Bainimarama meeting as extraordinary, "but one hopes it serves the purpose of reinforcing New Zealand's commitment to the rule of law in Fiji".

He said the trip would also give Mr Peters the chance "to leave the circus back in 2005 and get on with the job".


Minister on the move

Winston Peters' visits since becoming Foreign Minister in October:
* South Korea, Apec ministers, November.
* Malta, Commonwealth Ministers, November.
* Britain, bilateral and EU, December. 
* Malaysia, East Asia Summit, December.