Gemini News Service: 23 July 1999
POLITICS: RABUKA, PEACEMAKER, FACES TROUBLE AT HOME
The man who brokered an end to the ethnic troubles in the Solomon Islands has won applause abroad, but brickbats at home. Sitiveni Rabuka is still haunted by his military coups of 12 years ago and, Gemini News Service reports, his appointment as peacemaker was controversial within the Commonwealth.
By DAVID ROBIE
SITIVENI RABUKA, Fiji's military coup leader and former prime minister, has won international plaudits as Commonwealth peacemaker in the troubled South Pacific nation of the Solomon Islands.
He has also been hailed for steering neighbouring Fiji back into the Commonwealth fold by nurturing a new multiracial constitution and ending 12 years of being an international pariah.
Back home Rabuka is not quite the hero that he is seen as abroad: his role as the Commonwealth special envoy to the Solomon Islands has come under bitter attack from the new government, some traditional chiefs and community elders more concerned about his domestic blunders.
Rabuka smoothed the way for a pact between the Solomon Islands government, the premiers of Guadalcanal and Malaita provinces and militants, ending months of ethnic unrest over land ownership and political and economic power in that country.
However, his critics say his recent actions have tarnished his image at home.
The criticism follows general elections in May, when Rabuka led the indigenous Fijian government to a crushing defeat, opening the door to the country's first prime minister of ethnic Indian origin, trade unionist Mahendra Chaudhry.
Fijians, of mixed Polynesian-Melanesian origin, make up about 48 per cent of country's 800,000 population; 46 per cent are ethnic Indians, mostly descendants of indentured labourers brought in by the British colonial administration last century.
The government had ruled uninterrupted since 1987, when Rabuka ousted a democratically-elected multiracial government with two military coups and adopted a constitution that was racially weighted in favour of indigenous Fijians.
The move prompted the Commonwealth to expel Fiji - the country was re-admitted only in 1997 after it adopted a new, fairer constitution.
His Fijian Party (Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa), was slashed to just seven seats in the 71-seat parliament, although Rabuka retained his own seat.
Following the polls, Rabuka was elected as chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu Vakaturaga), a traditional custodian of indigenous Fijian culture and political power which appoints 14 of the 32-member Senate or upper house.
That was not without controversy: the former military commander is a commoner and the fact that he defeated a chiefly-nominee favoured by President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, stirred protest.
Then Rabuka boycotted the opening of Parliament. And his letter of resignation as an opposition MP was received after he had taken up the Commonwealth mission, sparking calls for his dumping from the Great Council of Chiefs job.
Agriculture Minister Poseci Bune, a former diplomat and key figure in the Fiji Labour Party-led coalition government, called on Rabuka to resign immediately from the council over his Solomon Islands mission.
"Since the post of council chairman is a public office, [Rabuka] cannot also simultaneously hold a position and be paid by a foreign government or an international organisation," said Bune.
Under Fijian law, chiefs have the power to call an extraordinary meeting of the council to vote him out of office, but this would be unlikely.
Deputy Prime Minister Dr Tupeni Baba, who holds the foreign affairs portfolio, said he was disappointed that the Commonwealth Secretariat had not consulted his ministry before making such an important appointment.
"The appointment of Mr Rabuka shows the type of judgement some people make," he said in an annoyed reference to Rabuka's military coups. Baba, an indigenous Fijian, was a cabinet member in the government that was deposed at gunpoint and detained by troops.
In London, a senior official at the Commonwealth Secretariat, speaking on conditions of anonymity, admitted Rabuka's selection as an official peacemaker for the 52-nation body was "not a popular move".
The official said the Solomon Islands prime minister had personally asked for Rabuka because "they needed a Melanesian to negotiate with the chaps in the bush and Rabuka is respected by Melanesians, particularly the militants".
The official said the Fiji government initially opposed the move, and that Commonwealth Secretary General Chief Emeka Anyaoku spoke personally to Prime Minister Chaudhry to allay his fears.
Rabuka, speaking on Fiji radio, admitted he had not considered the implications of the Solomon Islands peace mission for Fiji.
His opposition party also sprang to his support, with general secretary Ema Druavesi claiming the Commonwealth appointment was a personal one and did not need government approval.
Accusing Dr Baba of "naivety, officiousness and personal animosity", she drew a parallel with Fiji's decision to invite advisers from New Zealand two years ago as the independent Reeves commission that drew up the island nation's 1998 constitution and electoral system.
Whatever the truth of the matter, as Fiji's Daily Post associate editor Mesake Koroi wrote: "The Solomon Islands move has effectively knocked Sitiveni Rabuka out of the political front - 12 years and one month after entering politics through dubious means." - GEMINI NEWS