Posted on 12/05/2006 2:01:53 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
Fiji likely to be suspended from Commonwealth after coup UPDATE
(Updates with further details)
LONDON (AFX) - The Commonwealth is likely to suspend Fiji's membership later this week after its latest coup, the grouping's secretary general Don McKinnon said, condemning the military takeover.
Foreign ministers from nine Commonwealth countries will meet in London on Friday to discuss the situation after Fiji's military commander seized control of the country -- the former British colony's fourth coup in two decades.
'The likelihood of Fiji being suspended is very high,' McKinnon told reporters, adding that the Commonwealth 'unreservedly condemns any military action against a democratically elected government'.
Coup leader, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, must restore full democratic and civilian rule 'as soon as possible,' he said in an accompanying statement.
Foreign ministers from Canada, Britain, Lesotho, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, Malta, Malaysia and Sri Lanka will meet in the Commonwealth Secretariat here to consider suspension and other action against Fiji.
A Commonwealth spokeswoman added that the ministers could suspend Fiji's participation in top meetings, such as those of ministers, heads of state and heads of government.
Theoretically, she added, they could suspend all dealings with Fiji, including the provision of aid.
If the ministers decide on suspension, McKinnon said, 'it would really be instantaneous' and Fiji would be barred from sending its education minister to a meeting of the 53-member Commonwealth in Cape Town, South Africa, on Monday.
A Commonwealth spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse that members may separately consider sanctions -- as Australia and New Zealand have already promised -- but the issue would not be debated by the ministers on Friday.
newsdesk@afxnews.com
afp/cmr/cml
That'll show em.
You know, as politically incorrect as it sounds, there are a lot of places around the world that were frankly better off under the rule of the British Empire. Say what you want, but they ~were~ pretty good at it.
Except for that little tea tax thing. Kinda blew it there. But I'm just sayin'...
I've been to Fiji. Give me a free round trip ticket (First Class) and a free luxury hotel room with an unlimited free bar-tab and I might go again.
Oh, it's not that bad of a place. The people are happy enough and while they are poor by our standards, there's no starvation. But it's not my cup of tea.
Good beer, though.
(And betting on the number of road kill cows was fun.)
And I thought counting coup was a Plains Indian thing.
Doesn't Commonwealth membership and a $1.50 get you a cup of coffee?
'You know, as politically incorrect as it sounds, there are a lot of places around the world that were frankly better off under the rule of the British Empire. Say what you want, but they ~were~ pretty good at it.
Except for that little tea tax thing. Kinda blew it there. But I'm just sayin'...'
That's coz in most of our colonies we were organising various varieties of foreigner. In the American colonies, we were dealing with English colonists who are far more stroppy and used to the personal freedoms that they had enjoyed for 500 years since Magna Carta! :)
I suspect more people--even people in Britain--now know that Fiji was a member of the Commonwealth than did two days ago. I suspect even some of those involved in the coup may not have been aware of the status of Fiji.
Partly, but the big thing was that the US revolution shocked the Brits so much that they actually took stock of the lessons from it. They were already better overall than most empires at keeping their hand relatively light (albeit with some notable exceptions) but from then on they started sending out much better trained and qualified governors and providing them with a simply incredible support bureaucracy that was actually efficient and intelligent to aid them Made a big difference....and when compared to the model of people like the Belgians...welll...
You are quite right - it certainly shocked the English, the Scots and Irish were less surprised. When the war broke out, the English were very reluctant to fight the colonists who they saw as brothers and consequently raising soldiers in England to fight the colonists was very difficult. Of the 13 divisions evetually raised, 3 were English and 10 were Scots/Irish as the latter had no problems with fighting English colonists.
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