R 171755Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY SUVA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 0802
INFO AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 
AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 
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AMEMBASSY LONDON 
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HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SUVA 000432 
 
 
PLEASE PASS TO EAP/ANP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL FJ
SUBJECT:  CONFLICTING OPINIONS IN FIJI COURTS; BAINIMARAMA WOOS 
FIJI'S CHIEFS 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: A High Court injunction ordering the Interim 
Government (IG) to cease all work promoting the Peoples' Charter was 
overturned only hours after it was issued on November 14, following 
an urgent ex parte appeal by Fiji's interim attorney general to a 
judge more sympathetic to the IG.  The injunction had prohibited the 
use of government offices, officers, and the expenditure of 
government funds for Charter related work.  Meanwhile, in a bid to 
resolve the long-running standoff between the IG and Fiji's 
traditional chiefs, newly appointed Minister for Indigenous Affairs 
Ratu Epeli Nailatikau is organizing a "Bose Vanua", a full meeting 
of the heads of Fiji's 212 indigenous clans, on December 9 and 10. 
Fiji's paramount chiefs have for the most part remained steadfast in 
their opposition to the IG and Peoples' Charter process, and have 
with good reason expressed suspicion of IG motives.  End summary. 
 
High Court Issues Injunction on Peoples' Charter 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2. (U) In October, the ousted SDL party filed a lawsuit in Fiji's 
High Court alleging that work conducted by the National Council for 
Building a Better Fiji (NCBBF), in promoting the Peoples' Charter, 
violated Fiji's constitution.  On November 14, High Court Justice 
Filimoni Jitoko issued an injunction on all further Charter 
promotion work by the NCBBF pending a trial on the merits of the 
case.  The injunction prohibited the IG from holding public 
gatherings, using civil servants and government property, and 
expending public funds to promote the Charter.  The injunction 
represented a temporary but significant event given that Bainimarama 
has repeatedly stressed that there will be no elections until the 
people of Fiji "voluntarily" accept the Charter and its 
recommendations.  Hours later, following an ex parte application to 
Justice John Byrnes, IG lawyers obtained a stay order, effectively 
squashing the injunction and removing the case from Justice Jitoko's 
purview. 
 
¶3. (U) The IG has spent a vast amount of public funds and resources 
promoting the Peoples' Charter.  The NCBBF, which drafted and 
coordinates Charter outreach activities, was initially allocated US 
$1.2 million in Fiji's 2008 budget.  However, shortly after the 
Charter's launch in August, the IG instructed government departments 
to use their own budgets to undertake various promotion activities. 
For the past four months, teams of outreach officers, accompanied by 
soldiers, police and detailed civil servants, have held meetings in 
villages across the country.  The IG reports that more than 145,000 
people have been consulted, of whom 130,000 support the Charter. 
The amount spent promoting the Charter could well exceed by three or 
four fold the amount authorized in the budget. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Comment: The events of Friday afternoon provide yet another 
illustration of the deep divisions within Fiji's judiciary.  The 
injunction was issued by Justice Jitoko, a respected and independent 
jurist, and former High Commissioner to London.  The interim 
attorney general, in response, turned to 77 year old Justice John 
Byrne, a former member of Fiji's judiciary who had retired to 
Australia before being brought back by the IG-appointed Acting Chief 
Justice Anthony Gates.  The Fiji Law Society and other parties have 
challenged both Gates' and Byrnes' appointments as unconstitutional. 
 Friday's proceeding is the third time in recent history the IG has 
turned to Byrnes for an ex parte stay order removing a case from the 
ambit of lower court judges.  End Comment. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Regardless of the outcome of this most recent round of 
legal wrangling, many of Fiji's most prominent political parties, 
along with the powerful Methodist Church, remain steadfast in their 
opposition to the Charter.  The Methodist Church has been 
endeavoring to collect its own signatures of those opposed to the 
Peoples' Charter, with some 60,000 signatures reportedly collected 
thus far. 
 
Hoping to Mend Some Fences 
-------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Meanwhile, in a bid to resolve the long-running and 
multifaceted standoff between the IG and Fiji's powerful traditional 
chiefs, newly appointed Minister for Indigenous Affairs Ratu Epeli 
Nailatikau has invited the chiefs to a "Bose Vanua," which is a full 
meeting of the heads of Fiji's 212 indigenous clans, on December 9 
and 10.  Thus far, a few minor chiefs who supported the 2006 coup 
have voiced support for the meeting, while the vast majority, 
including most of the senior chiefs, have remained silent.  Since 
the proposed meeting is not of the constitutionally recognized Great 
Council Chiefs, at most, Bainimarama hopes to increase support for 
the draft Charter and his "new look" GCC, which he says he will 
convene in 2009. 
 
¶7. (SBU) It's highly likely that a majority of chiefs will align 
themselves with Fiji's confederacy paramount chiefs, all of whom 
served in Qarase's cabinet and were ousted from office by 
Bainimarama.  Many are highly suspicious of the move and suspect it 
is designed to secure approval to reconvene the GCC, which 
Bainimarama dismantled last year after it rejected his nominee for 
vice president (the now Minister for Indigenous Affairs Ratu Epeli 
Nailatikau).  Many chiefs are also still smarting over derogatory 
comments made by Bainimarama in December 2006 when he told them to 
"go and drink homebrew under a mango tree."  Ratu Naiqama 
Lalabalavu, a powerful chief and former cabinet minister in the SDL 
government recently said that Bainimarama needs to present a 
traditional apology for his disrespectful behavior before the chiefs 
will consider coming to the table. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment:  There are good reasons for the chiefs to be 
suspicious.  Under Fiji's constitution, the GCC appoints Fiji's 
president and vice president.  With each passing day, the need to 
appoint a vice president to back up Fiji's ageing 87 year old 
president, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, becomes more acute.  After 
dismantling the GCC and terminating the appointments of all 52 
members in April 2007, Bainimarama promulgated new regulations that 
effectively bar a number of chiefs from membership in the "new look" 
GCC.  Many of these chiefs are very senior and powerful, and most 
were members of the ousted SDL government.  Eleven of Fiji's 14 
provincial councils have responded to the new regulations by 
declaring the revised GCC unlawful and refusing to nominate members. 
As a result, the GCC has been unable to meet and Fiji has no vice 
president.  However, the recent High Court decision legitimizing the 
post-coup actions of the President quite clearly states that IG 
promulgations - such as that revising the criteria for GCC 
membership - are constitutional.  If Fiji's high chiefs continue to 
refuse to participate in the GCC, the IG could feasibly issue new 
regulations expanding the criteria of those eligible for membership 
(for example, lower ranking chiefs), in which case the IG  could 
find enough willing participants to form a quorum and nominate a 
vice president.  This however, would be a dangerous course of 
action, even for Bainimarama.  End comment. 
 
MCGANN