10 Jul 2013

Fiji politicians scathing about MSG's regime support

6:37 pm on 10 July 2013

The political grouping, the United Front for a Democratic Fiji, says that once a democratically elected government is in place, Fiji's membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group must be reviewed.

In a statement, the UFDF has strongly criticised support for Fiji's military-led regime from MSG member governments in Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu.

It says the MSG has compromised itself by embracing Commodore Frank Bainimarama's regime, even though he violated the MSG's guiding principles when he ousted a democratically elected government by force in 2006.

The MSG is the only international organisation to be invited by Fiji's regime to send an observer mission for the planned election in 2014.

This recent proposal has been rejected by the UFDF which believes observers should be confined to the United Nations, the Commonwealth, the European Union and the Pacific Islands Forum.

The UFDF says the MSG has also ignored the plight of Fiji's entire population, which for nearly seven years has been deprived of its democratic rights.