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Fiji's military government has fired a broadside at the US ambassador to Suva, warning he is giving false information to American officials.
In comments today, Fiji's self-appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama warned the United States' ambassador to Fiji, Larry Dinger, was issuing the same sort of advice as New Zealand's former envoy Michael Green.
Green was last month expelled from the Pacific country after being accused of trying to meddle in Fiji's domestic affairs.
Bainimarama's comments come after a US Congressional delegation visited Fiji earlier this week and met Fiji's interim Foreign Affairs Minister Ratu Epeli Nailatikau.
"I am not surprised that this committee from the States is disappointed about what Ratu Epeli has told them. They are getting the same story from their ambassador, Larry Dinger, as Helen Clark was getting hers from Michael Green," Bainimarama said.
"They are not getting the real story of what is happening in Fiji," he said.
Bainimarama led a military coup that ousted the elected government on December 5 last year.
After meeting with Nailatikau the delegation said they were disturbed that elections in the country may not occur by early 2009, as had been promised by the military administration.
They also raised concerns about human rights violations by the Fiji Military Forces.
"If for two days they hang around in Nadi and they get briefed by someone who does not understand, or does not want to understand, the events of the fifth of December, as in Larry Dinger, I am not really surprised that they are disappointed with what Ratu Epeli has told them," Bainimarama said.
A spokesman for the US Embassy in Suva was unable to immediately respond to Bainimarama's comments, but is expected to issue a statement later today.
- AAP
