Authorities in Fiji are offering contradictory accounts of a nationwide effort to remove beggars and street dwellers from public spaces, with questions over warning notices and what support is available for those affected.

The agencies involved have been unable to clearly identify what those services are and who is responsible for providing them, or what happens to people after they are moved from their public places.

The ongoing lack of clarity has raised concerns among civil society organisations that the enforcement effort may be getting ahead of the support systems needed to make it work.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji homeless reports

Last month, The Fiji Times reported that city rangers were serving warning notices to individuals soliciting alms in public areas. The notices stated that behaviour such as persistent begging or obstructing of footpaths were offences and could lead to “enforcement actions”.

The operation has been advertised as a joint effort between the Lautoka City Council, Fiji police, and the Women, Children and Social Protection Ministry.

RNZ Pacific has repeatedly sought clarification on how the operation works in practice, on what would trigger a warning notice, what happens when someone refuses to leave, what support programmes are offered for street dwellers, and what role each agency plays.

The office of the Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, Sashi Kiran, declined to comment on the ministry’s role in supporting street dwellers or on what programmes being offered to people being moved from public spaces.

The office of Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu would only say police were there to “ensure the safety of all parties” and would “use necessary force” if required.

When RNZ Pacific asked what that meant in practice, and what powers police would use if people refused to leave public spaces, no detailed explanations were provided.

RNZ Pacific’s specific questions to both the ministry and police remain unanswered.

‘No forced relocation’
The Lautoka City Council chairman and acting CEO Ratu Tevita Momoedonu, however, was more forthcoming, and rejected suggestions people were being forcibly removed from streets.

“There is no forced relocation here. We can’t force anybody,” he said.

He described the initiative as welfare-led, saying street dwellers were being profiled and offered relocation to shelters and rehabilitation services.

“We don’t warn people. We profile them, and we call them in meetings, and then we suggest to them the importance or the benefits of being relocated,” he added.

When asked about the support programmes being offered by the ministry, Momoedonu said they could not help.

“I can’t help you either, because the [Lautoka City] Council, we have our own jurisdictions here. We only help social welfare in profiling,” he said.

“The rehabilitation part, the relocation part, it is their (ministry and police) responsibility, not us. If they are not answering to you people, then [they] neither do us.”

Directives may be issued
While Momoedonu denied that warning notices were being used as part of the relocation effort, he did acknowledge that council notices could be issued for breaches of bylaws, and that people involved in criminal activity could be removed.

“If there are bylaws that are violated, then we can issue directives? When there are criminal elements — drinking in public place, taking drugs in public place, disturbing the peace. These are criminal elements.”

He said police assist the Lautoka City Council and welfare officers when street dwellers resist engagement, although he commented that police do not “enforce relocations”.

In Nadi, Fiji’s international gateway, a similar operation is underway.

A pamphlet from social worker Mohenesh Singh describes “Operation Loloma” as an effort to take beggars off the streets, profile and screen them, and provide “alternative means of livelihood”.

“Together, we can create lasting solutions that address the root causes of begging,” the pamphlet reads.

“The information collected will see an an individual case plan drawn up for each beggar so that the welfare of the disadvantaged individuals are taken care of by the various networks we have in the country.”

RNZ Pacific contacted Singh for comment, asking what street profiling looked like, and what support was offered for street dwellers. He declined to comment about their operation.

FCOSS ‘caught by surprise’
Civil society groups which are also involved in working on the issue say they have been left in the dark about the Lautoka initiative.

The Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS) executive director Vani Catanasiga said she first learnt about Lautoka City Council’s warning notice enforcement when contacted by RNZ Pacific.

“We were caught by surprise, so, I just heard that it was happening in Lautoka,” Catanasiga said.

“I was aware about it in Suva, sort of, efforts or clean up… but I wasn’t aware about Lautoka.”

Catanasiga said Fiji’s civil sector has repeatedly raised concerns around the lack of co-ordination between Fijian agencies that are working with vulnerable people.

The Lautoka operation, she said, could serve as a “case study” in what happens when co-ordination between involved parties breaks down.

“Unfortunately, in this case, it has to do with a vulnerable group. They’re already vulnerable, they’re already confused, they’re already in need of support, compassion,” Catanasiga said.

“When we don’t address persistent coordination challenges, it really just does a lot more harm. It exacerbates the harms that they already face.”

Absence of communication
In this case, Catanasiga said the issue is an absence of communication, and clarity in roles between the different agencies involved.

The additional lack of publicly available detail is concerning for organisations who are meant to be working with vulnerable people, she added.

She described the operations as “optics-led” and said while sympathised with the relevant authorities and people in authority trying to make a difference, the lack of transparency was concerning.

“It’s not to penalise those who want to do something about it. It’s about [asking], ‘okay, have we applied the right processes?’

“Sometimes in our effort to to do this, we miss the more essential work of doing the due diligence. And sometimes we react … a lot of our approaches are reactionary because it looks bad.

“It’s not an excuse to miss the essential steps of safeguarding [and] due diligence that we must apply to our work, particularly around social protection [and] checking on the social safety nets that are supposed to be there.”

‘Unsustainable’
Catanasiga also suggested authorities were relying on Fiji’s long-dormant law on minor offences to justify moving beggars and street dwellers from public places, targeting activities such as begging, loitering and drunk or disorderly behaviour.

“I understand there is a Minor Offences Act that was never operationalised. It was never applied.

“So, I think that they’re using that to justify the removal of people from the streets. So begging, all those sorts of activities, loitering, it’s covered under that act.”

While Catanisaga said she fully supported efforts to move homeless individuals into dignified work and safe housing, the current operations will be unsustainable.

“I’m just concerned about the back end processes that are supposed to be in place, the support system. If not, our efforts to get people off the streets is not going to be sustainable,” she said.

Moving forward, Catanasiga said the agencies involved to deal with the issue need to come together to complete the programme they have started.

“We always talk about dignity-centred approaches [to deal with vulnerable people]. This [initiative] is not dignity-centred approaches,” she said.

“We want to support our government, and more importantly, we want to support people who are in vulnerable positions.”

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters has blasted Solomon Islands cabinet ministers who moved against their leader on the eve of the Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meeting in Palau.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale has been forced home to deal with a motion of no confidence from his Home Affairs Minister Manasseh Maelanga.

Three Cabinet ministers, including Maelanga, have resigned from his GREAT coalition government.

• READ MORE: Solomon Islands ‘dangles over the edge of political instability’ as three ministers quit
• Missing leaders won’t derail Pacific Islands Forum outcomes, says secretariat
• Vanuatu Special Envoy calls for PIF to ‘reopen’ issue of Pacific access to West Papua
• Solomon Islands PM Wale rushes home from Palau after confidence challenge launched
• Other PIF reports
• Other West Papua reports

More ministers are rumoured to follow suit, including Finance Minister and former Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo, potentially tipping the numbers against Wale’s favour.

Speaking to reporters in Palau ahead of the summit’s opening ceremony, Peters struggled to hide his disdain.

“To think that a motion of no confidence was moved when you’re at a critical Pacific event concerns me about the people who moved the motion,” he said.

“For goodness’ sake, could you possibly have waited until your brothers, sisters and cousins have sorted out the Pacific in the meantime, just for these few days?”

Returned within hours
Wale, who reportedly first learned of the motion after landing in Palau, was on a plane back home within hours.

Peters said that the departure weighed heavy on fellow leaders, considering several heads of government had opted not to go.

“He had to get the next plane, and President [Surangel] Whipps Jr had to take him. That shows how saddened Whipps was by that, we all were, that Wale had to go home. But at least they’re trying.”

The leaders of Kiribati, Samoa, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are also sitting out the summit. Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka may stay at home, despite earlier plans.

Peters is in Koror for the next two days before swapping out with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. He refused to speculate on why so many Pacific leaders were not present.

However, reasons for their absence could include health, he noted.

Rabuka’s absence would mean a planned bilateral with his New Zealand counterpart on Thursday morning would not go ahead. Luxon said on Monday that he was not deterred.

Wale faces the fire
Barely three months into the job, Wale now faces a challenge strikingly similar to the one he had helped orchestrate against his predecessor, Jeremiah Manele.

It began with a mass resignation: 10 ministers in one fell swoop, complaining that then-Prime Minister Manele made too many decisions without consulting Cabinet.

While Manele refused to call parliament, a group of MPs wore him down, and he gave way on 7 May. In the aftermath, Wale was elected prime minister by 26 MPs in a parliament of 50. It would take that many to oust him.

Maelanga, an early contender against Wale in the PM stakes, has now made a claim nearly identical to Manele’s challengers, saying Wale had made unilateral decisions “on matters of national importance” while neglecting “proper consultation with, or the approval of, Cabinet”.

Solomon Isands journalist Lisa Osifelo told RNZ Pacific Waves that the situation was fluid.

“We might be expecting more resignations from ministers in the next couple of days,” she said

“There were probably a lot of things that have come out in the media… political appointees, the termination and the non-renewal of contracts [in] various ministries, that has probably contributed to what we’re seeing now.”

She said it was unclear how large or influential the rebel group is — but Maelanga is likely a front-man.

Wale ‘will be regrouping’
“I know [PM Wale] will be regrouping a few of the members … maybe get back to the drawing board, renegotiate, and bring their grievances or whatever they have back to the table.”

It is unclear whether Maelanga’s grievances about “unilateral decisions” include the government’s foreign policy platform.

Since Wale took office, he pledged to review the controversial security deal signed with China in 2022, reset the Australian relationship, signed a shiprider agreement with the United States, and deepened ties with Japan and New Zealand through MoUs — promising that the Solomons was a “friend to all”.

Speaking as PIF chair in July, Wale said there was “growing consensus” among Pacific states for a regional security treaty.

At the leaders’ summit this week, Winston Peters speculated that the idea would be discussed, but that Wale’s absence was a “setback.”

The first of PIF’s leaders meetings began last night.

With the final list of leaders attending the 55th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting in Palau still unconfirmed, the regional body’s policy hub is moving to emphasise the robustness of potential decisions and outcomes from the week.

The annual summit is supposed to bring together leaders from the Forum’s 18 member states to discuss and progress major regional issues. However, as of Monday morning, five members were going to be in Koror without representation at the top level.

Kiribati President Taneti Maamau and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale are the two late withdrawals.

• READ MORE:  Vanuatu Special Envoy calls for PIF to ‘reopen’ issue of Pacific access to West Papua
• Solomon Islands PM Wale rushes home from Palau after confidence challenge launched
• Other PIF reports
• Other West Papua reports

Maamau has reportedly been unable to arrange travel in time for the meeting and also had a parliamentary sitting he needed to attend. His absence has raised a lot of concerns over cohesiveness of PIF following tensions over a lack of agreement among members at the PIF Foreign Ministers Meeting earlier this month.

Members failed to reach consensus on a statement [condemning China’s missile test at that meeting. The dummy warhead landed in Pacific waters near Tuvalu last month.

Naoero (formerly Nauru) and Kiribati, which have strong ties to Beijing, were understood to be the members which did not support a statement on it. Both those countries were also understood to be isolated from the wider collective for their stance in Suva.

Naoero’s President David Adeang confirmed this morning he would be in Koror.

Wale forced to return home
Meanwhile, Wale did make it to Palau, however he was forced to return home after a motion of no confidence was filed against his leadership.

Samoa, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are also not represented in Palau at leadership level. Instead, their delegations are being led by deputy leaders or senior ministers.

There is also uncertainty over Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s attendance. He has had to remain in Suva due to urgent domestic issues It sounds unlikely that he will make it.

The absence of several leaders at the meeting is being described by Australian and New Zealand media as a “regional turmoil” and a “blow to regional unity”.

But, despite the reduction in leadership-level representation, the PIF Secretariat — which is the engine room of the PIF — says progress at this week’s meeting would be significant and enduring.

Secretariat deputy secretary general Esala Nayasi told media this morning issues being tabled at the leaders’ meeting, which officially kicks off tonight, “have gone through [the PIF] officials’ meeting, and also [the PIF] Foreign Ministers’ meeting.

“So they have been quietly deliberated on, [and] their national positions that have been shared.

Come with a mandate
“We would expect, for those that are in the room — whether leaders or represented at ministerial level — they would come with also mandate to speak on their issues.

“We have comfort in our processes to deliver outcomes that is consistent and aligned on key issues.”

Nayasi was asked whether Kiribati’s decision not to send a minister could be characterised as a boycott. The Micronesian island nation is being represented by David Teaabo, the Director of Foreign Service and the former Ambassador to China.

Nayasi said that was not the view of the secretariat, and pointed to the fact Maamau was joining in a session today virtually.

“There’s no view or thought whatsoever of any case of that,” he said.

Nayasi also told reporters he would have an updated list on Tuesday morning of confirmed attendees.

Meanwhile, the meeting’s opening ceremony will be held at the Palau National Gymnasium this evening.

The week will build up to the leaders’ retreat on Thursday, where the heads of the 18 members’ delegations spend the day together without any outside parties, including their own advisers.

The 55th Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting officially kicks off tonight in Koror, Palau.

The runway leading in is already proving eventful, with at least one partner withdrawing its leader last-minute.

For those who are not acclimatised, the mugginess of Koror’s 30 degree heat is stifling.

• READ MORE: Solomon Islands PM returns home before PIF meeting to face no-confidence motion
• Pacific Elders call for climate accountability, stronger regional unity
• Vanuatu journalist denied entry to Palau while traveling to cover Pacific leaders meeting
• Other PIF reports

After five minutes in the sun, you’re sweating and whatever you’re carrying feels a few kilos heavier. Finding relief, even if it’s momentary, quickly becomes a priority.

The fury at which geopolitics is wrapped into this year’s Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders’ meeting is a lot like Koror’s heat — even though you can’t see it, it’s all-encompassing and impossible to avoid.

Already, questions have been raised over the last-minute withdrawal of Kiribati President Taaneti Maamau. Now, it is also uncertain whether Naoero (formerly Nauru) President David Adeang will be attending as planned.

Maamau’s late withdrawal, and the current lack of certainty around Naeoro’s President Adeang, goes to the heart of problems around unity and outside interference in the PIF.

Lack of agreement
At the end of the PIF foreign ministers’ meeting in Suva earlier this month, the lack of agreement from members over a statement condemning China’s missile test dominated headlines.

The dummy warhead landed in Pacific waters near Tuvalu last month.

Naoero and Kiribati, which have strong ties to Beijing, were understood to be the members which did not support a statement on it. Both those countries were also understood to be isolated from the wider collective for their stance in Suva.

The lack of agreement means the issue of a statement on the missile testing was deferred to Koror. In the last few weeks, officials across the region have been working on a statement that is due to be submitted and considered this week by leaders.

Despite that, four PIF states — Australia, New Zealand, Palau and Marshall Islands — decided to go their own way after the Suva meeting and sign a joint statement released by the US government criticising China for the missile testing.

Palau and Marshall Islands, alongside Tuvalu, are the three PIF states which have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who is representing his government in Koror before Prime Minister Christopher Luxon arrives, made his displeasure over the lack of a result in Suva clear at the time.

No reasons laid out
“They didn’t actually lay out any reasons, apart from their disagreement, and not wishing for us to make the clear statement such as ‘we are opposed to missiles being fired into the Pacific.

“That’s what the statement should have said, and we’re still waiting for that to get laid out.”

It seems that disharmony has rolled straight from Suva into the beautiful islands of Palau.

Maamau’s decision not to attend this week, and instead send David Teaabo, his Director of Foreign Service and the former ambassador to China, means any potential statement on missile testing will not have sign-off from Kiribati’s top representative or an elected official.

It also sends a clear message over Maamau’s current discontent with the PIF. And if Naeoro’s Adeang also withdraws, there will be concerns over unity and stability of the PIF — particularly as that will leave the week short two leaders from the Micronesia bloc.

Furthermore, alongside a potential missile statement, there are high hopes for leaders to agree on the specifics of the partnerships policy which was endorsed by leaders in Solomon Islands’ last year.

The policy means the PIF partners, currently 21 dialogue partners and a group of development partners, would be divided into tier one and tier two, with the top tier having greater access to member states.

Key dialogue partners
Unsurprisingly, the behemoths-in-the room on this agenda issue is where China and the US would sit. Both are dialogue partners under the current set-up and have high-level representation in Koror.

China has its Special Envoy for Pacific Island Countries Affairs, Qian Bo, on the ground, while Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau is leading the US delegation.

Taiwan, which is currently a PIF development partner, will also be jostling for a place in the tier system. It has sent its Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung to Koror, along with a large delegation to Palau.

Notably, Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has also withdrawn from his planned schedule in Koror last-minute due to urgent domestic issues, however he may still arrive later in the week for the leaders’ retreat.

Early yesterday, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale also left Palau after less than 24 hours after a motion of no confidence was tabled back home against him. Wale is the current Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, who was supposed to hand over the chairmanship to Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr in Palau.

Sāmoa, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu have also decided not to send leaders, however this was signalled in advance, and the states’ delegations are headed by deputy prime ministers or senior ministers.

With such significant issues due to be discussed this week, framed and threatened by the burgeoning geopolitical tension between the US and China, a lack of appropriate representation from PIF members does not bode well.

Genuine consensus and open debate among all members is critical in the current climate, particularly as outside interests continue to exert influence in pursuit of their own agendas.

Fiji is now in a generalised HIV epidemic, which means the virus is firmly established and spreading within the general population.

The number of people living with HIV in Fiji has risen sharply over the past decade.

Fiji’s Health Minister Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu declared an HIV outbreak in January 2025.

• READ MORE:  ‘We’re doing something about it’ – Fiji’s health minister defends HIV response
• Other HIV in Fiji reports

The number of Fijians living with HIV had risen to at least 9000, or nearly 1 percent of the population, as of March, according to the head of Fiji’s HIV response.

The figures indicate that Fiji has a higher HIV prevalence rate than Australia and New Zealand, where the rate is estimated at 0.1 percent.

In Parliament this week, the Health Minister revealed that new infections continued to rise, with an estimated 1700 in 2025, roughly three times the level in 2018.

“2026 UNAIDS estimates indicate that about 9100 people were living with HIV in 2025, and possibly as many as 12,000, up from fewer than 700 in 2010,” he said.

“[For] adults from 15 to 49 years, prevalence has reached 1.6 percent, crossing the threshold that defines a generalised epidemic.”

Dr Lalabalavu said his ministry had increased testing and treatment, but Fiji had not yet reached the point where new infections were declining.

He said the government was expanding HIV testing, treatment and prevention, including PrEP, a daily medicine that helps prevent HIV.

The minister noted that high-risk drug use, in particular sharing of needles and syringes, was playing a significant role in the rapid rise of new HIV infections in Fiji.

“We have not yet reached the turning point,” he said.

Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister says he expects the issue of West Papua will be discussed at the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders meeting in Palau.

This comes as the issue of human rights abuses and conflict in Indonesian-ruled Papua region, often known internationally as West Papua, appeared to have slipped off the regional agenda.

After the PIF foreign ministers met in Suva earlier this month, there was no mention of West Papua in the meeting’s outcome statement.

• READ MORE: Other West Papua reports

Most of the talk was about regional security arrangements and the region’s response, or lack thereof, to a recent Chinese nuclear-capable interballistic missile test into Pacific waters.

West Papua is a standing item on the Forum’s agenda, but has generated a decreasing amount of discussion in the past several years as Indonesia strengthened ties with Pacific Island countries.

However, PNG’s Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko has indicated to RNZ Pacific that the West Papua issue will be discussed by Pacific leaders in Koror next month.

There has been little to no apparent progress after Forum leaders last year tasked the Forum Secretariat to work constructively with Indonesia on a proposed visit to West Papua by PIF leaders envoys in 2026, in consultation with the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat.

Stalled PIF progress denied
Tkatchenko denied that Indonesia had stalled progress on a proposed visit by Forum leader envoys to West Papua.

“No, I don’t think [Indonesia had stalled progress] at all,” he said.

“Indonesia is very open to the situation now. I think it’s just making a time and date and making it happen. I’m sure it can be brought up in the next meeting in Palau by the leaders, and if they need to work on that, so be it.”

However, there has also been a clear lack of action on a PIF resolution in 2019 to request Indonesia grant access to West Papua for the UN Human Rights Commissioner to come and look into alleged abuses.

Tkatchenko said Indonesia’s government under new President Prabowo Subianto has been open about Papua issues.

However, he said the escalating violent conflict between Indonesian military and West Papuan independence fighters in recent months had not came up for discussion in Suva.

“Well nothing was mentioned at the Pacific Island Forum Foreign Ministers Meeting in that regard, but I did make it clear that we respect the sovereignty of Indonesia, and we did elevate them for the leaders to ensure that Indonesia was in a strategic relationship with all Pacific Island Forum’s members.”

The Foreign Minister suggested Indonesia’s role at the Forum could be a growing one, “as they hold 20 million Melanesians in Indonesia, which is bigger than all of the Pacific Islands and us put together”.

“So, they hold a very important place when it comes to the representation of Melanesians in the whole of the Pacific, and especially in the Pacific Island Forum. So, that was put forward and mentioned, and the leaders will discuss that in Palau in the next coming weeks.”

PNG relationship with Indonesia
Tkatchenko said that from a PNG perspective, they had made it clear to their neighbour that they were willing to help Indonesia address its problems in Papua, if they would like help.

“And we have the indications through the new president of Indonesia and the Foreign Minister’s discussions with myself that things are moving forward for the betterment of West Papuans now and into the future.

The PNG minister was reluctant to point fingers at Indonesia over the unrest in its Papuan provinces, particularly Highland Papua.

“We have our own issues, too. I mean, we’ve had massacres and very unfortunate tribal wars and conflicts between our own people in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea that would equal or outdo what is happening in Indonesia.

“So we have our own law and order problems that we are also trying to address in that regard.

“But any human rights violation, of course, is always a worry, depending on what the circumstance is. And you know, they are our brothers and sisters, and we are concerned. And if the Indonesians need our assistance, so be it.”

Pacific Islands Forum leaders are due to meet in Palau at the start of September.

Cross-border help
Meanwhile, Tkatchenko said PNG Foreign Affairs officials had been in Jakarta finalising a cross-border treaty, which allows for help to PNG’s Ok Tedi mine in Western Province near the international border.

“The Ok Tedi mine at the moment’s in a bit of strife where the river has now basically dried up and has now gone from a river to a creek. So, the freight, bringing all the freight and goods and fuel to Ok Tedi has now ceased because of the river not being able to access proper water depths to flow the boats and barges up to the appropriate points.

“We have now got a road going through and bridges going through Indonesia for them to access fuel and goods and everything in from Indonesia.

“We have all agreed, and and this is also working with all the West Papuan landowners and the Indonesians, and of course our agreement that we have signed just recently.”

The Fiji Police Force has yet to charge any suspects four months after the alleged murder of the reportedly infamous Jone Vakarisi while he was in military custody.

Vakarisi, 37, who was widely known for being on the wrong side of the law and reportedly linked to criminal networks, died on April 17 after being taken for questioning by soldiers to the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) headquarters in Suva.

His death was initially attributed to pre-existing conditions by the RFMF commander Ro Jone Kalouniwai, who was later forced to issue a “correction” when police classified Vakarisi’s death as murder after a copy of Vakarisi’s death certificate was leaked online, exposing massive blunt force trauma to his head and chest.

• READ MORE: Fiji police confirm murder probe launched into death of man in military custody
• Other Fiji police reports

Vakarisi’s sister Melehola Tagaga told RNZ Pacific Waves at the time that he begged for his life at the military barracks in Suva before allegedly being “bruatlised to death”.

Several weeks later in May, Kalouniwai admitted that the RFMF was “at fault” for Vakarisi’s death, describing it as an “unintentional” and “regrettable” incident.

However, more than 120 days after Vakarisi’s death, an active murder investigation remains open, while no one has been charged or presented in court.

In late July, the Fiji Sun reported that the case file on Vakarisi’s death was expected to be forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

investigators ‘completing interviews’
“Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu confirmed yesterday that investigators were completing interviews with those involved before finalising the file,” the newspaper reported on July 21.

“I can state that people need to trust the process that we are following. Investigation has been done,” Tudravu was quoted as saying.

Earlier this month, the police commissioner told local reporters that investigators continue to carry out house-to-house inquiries, collect witness statements, and examine forensic evidence as the probe intensifies.

He also called for “patience, understanding, and continued public support” for the joint police and military taskforce.

Local and international human rights groups condemned Vakarisi’s death in military custody, saying it reflected a “culture of impunity” within Fiji’s military forces.

Amnesty International’s Pacific researcher Kate Schuetze said the RFMF’s shifting excuses regarding Vakarisi’s death raised “more questions than answers”.

The Fiji High Court has ruled that the Commission of Inquiry report into the appointment of Barbara Malimali as FICAC Commissioner, in its entirety, is null and void.

Justice Dane Tuiqereqere also found that the COI report was unlawful, and that its adverse findings were irrational and it has been quashed

It has also been found that President Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu and Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka failed to provide the applicants with natural justice.

• READ MORE: Judge rules COI report is unlawful and null and void, and President, PM and COI breached principles of natural justice
• Other COI reports

Malimali challenged the report with former Attorney-General Graham Leung, and lawyers Wylie Clarke and Laurel Vaurasi.

Local media said the judge has determined that the President, the Prime Minister and the Commission of Inquiry, breached principles of natural justice for not giving the applicants the opportunity to respond to the adverse findings against them.

Fiji Village News said Justice Tuiqereqere ruled that the work of the Commission of Inquiry after 1 February 2025, including the report, is ultra vires or unlawful.

He found that the extension of the Commission of Inquiry beyond 31 January 2025 was ineffective.

As a result, the actions of the Commissioner after that date, including the completion of his report dated 1 May 2025, were unlawful, Fiji Village News stated.

Justice Tuiqereqere has also found that adverse findings and recommendations against the applicants including Malimali, former Attorney-General Graham Leung and lawyers Wylie Clarke and Laurel Vaurasi were unlawful, including those relating to a meeting at the FICAC office on 5 September 2024.

‘Praise God for the win’
The applicants had further challenged the decision by the President, on the advice of the Prime Minister, to release the Commission of Inquiry report publicly.

Malimali and her lawyer Tanya Waqanika are on the island of Kadavu and responded to the ruling in a Facebook post, saying justice had been served.

“Praise God for the win,” Waqanika said in her post.

“It has been a hard battle fighting to clear Barbara Malimali’s name from the COI taxpayer funded $4m (and counting) crocodile hunting failed expedition.

“Barbara Malimali and me are here in my village and we just received the news that we WON our HBJ No 9/26 Judicial Review case against the Fiji Government (well, all the Respondents names are Govt representatives).

The judge also said the COI Chair, David Ashton-Lewis, should have provided a draft of the adverse findings against the applicants to them and an opportunity to respond before compiling the report.

The Commission of Inquiry was the brainchild of Rabuka.

In June, the High Court rejected the Prime Minister’s attempt to stall its ruling that the country’s former anti-corruption chief was illegally sacked.

In February, Justice Dane Tuiqereqere found that the President — on the advice of the Prime Minister — “unlawfully” dismissed Barbara Malimali, the head of FICAC

Disagreement from some China-aligned Pacific Islands countries has prevented regional countries within the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) issuing a joint statement against missile testing in the Pacific.

At their meeting in Suva on Friday, PIF foreign ministers failed to agree on a unified statement against China after it fired a nuclear-capable missile into Pacific waters last month, despite deep concern among most countries about Beijing’s actions.

It is understood there was a majority of countries represented at the meeting who wanted a clear joint regional statement condemning such missile testing in the nuclear-free Pacific.

• READ MORE: Pacific foreign ministers to discuss Solomons’ idea for regional security treaty
• No Pacific consensus on China missile test condemnation
• Other Solomon Islands reports

However, the Forum’s usual Pacific decision-making by consensus could not be met because Kiribati and Nauru were opposed to a strong statement condemning the testing.

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters told media some Pacific nations were using the consensus system because they were more concerned with external partners’ wishes than those that belong to the Pacific Islands Forum, something he described as an “unusual view”.

“They didn’t actually lay out any reasons, apart from their disagreement, and not wishing for us to make the clear statement such as ‘we are opposed to missiles being fired into the Pacific’.

“That’s what the statement should have said, and we’re still waiting for that to get laid out.”

Some governments have pointed out that China is not the only country testing nuclear-capable missiles in the Pacific. The US regularly conducts tests into the Marshall Islands.

Peters said that testing in the Marshall Islands was done with the country’s consent.

Security agenda
The PIF Foreign Ministers Meeting was held to set the agenda for the annual Leaders’ Meeting in Palau later this month.

A Solomon Islands proposal for a regional security treaty was one of the discussion points, although it’s clear more consultation is required on the matter.

The Solomon Islands’ Foreign Affairs and External Trade Permanent Secretary George Hoa’au told RNZ Pacific that there was already a range of regional security mechanisms in the Forum fale.

“The missing part is to have a common thatched roof over them,” he said.

“The proposal for this single security treaty by Solomons is to provide an umbrella on top of what is already regional MOUs which are non-binding.”

A proposal from the Solomon Islands government for a regional security treaty is being considered by the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) foreign ministers in Suva on Friday, RNZ Pacific understands.

The treaty proposal forms a key agenda item at the day-long annual meeting — the outcomes of which help determine what will be discussed at the Forum leaders’ meeting in Palau at the end of the month.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale, who is also PIF chair, began promoting the concept of a regional security agreement soon after he was elected leader by his country’s Parliament in May.

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The idea gained pace in early June after Wale visited his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra.

In an address he delivered at the PIF headquarters in Suva last month, Wale highlighted the need for the region to consider “bold ideas that strengthen our collective security and provide greater certainty for future generations”.

He also told ABC there was “a growing consensus” among leaders he had spoken with of “gaps that such an architecture would help plug”.

However, political experts warn a collective security treaty could change regional decision-making processes and norms by introducing mandatory consultation.

Currently, decision making and policy processes on regional security through the Forum are guided by principles enshrined in regional declarations like Biketawa, Boe, and the Ocean of Peace.

This regional cooperation is not underpinned by an international legal agreement, except in certain instances like nuclear issues, which are covered by the Treaty of Rarotonga, and fisheries surveillance under the Niue Treaty.

The PIF, through its 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, describes this type of political cooperation as the “Pacific Way”. It involves “consensus-based decision making, whilst respecting sovereignty and the principle of non-interference in national affairs”.

Converting political commitments into obligations
According to RNZ Pacific sources, those pushing for the Solomons security treaty intend to codify the existing regional security legal and policy framework, including the three declarations mentioned above.

Codification would involve setting rules that govern regional security cooperation.

Massey University Centre for Defence and Security Studies associate professor Anna Powles said the existing Forum architecture and declarations and agreements, like Biketawa, preserve sovereignty and substantial national discretion.

“The proposed treaty would convert political commitments into obligations under international law, which poses a series of questions from what obligations it creates, whether decisions remain consensual, and whether it regulates existing bilateral security partnerships.”

Dr Powles emphasised the need for governments to carefully consider what was being put on the table through the proposed agreement.

This included which decisions governments were agreeing to share, the obligations they were committing to, and whether the proposed treaty could restrict their ability to respond to national circumstances.

“Depending on what the Wale proposal contains and seeks to do, a treaty in the current geopolitical climate could risk narrowing the Pacific concept of security from the Boe Declaration, which recognises climate change as the existential threat.

“There will be concern in parts of the region that the proposed treaty could become another geopolitical instrument through which certain states seek to limit their competitors.”

Wording to be ‘critical’
Regarding shifts in the policy and decision-making processes, Dr Powles said the wording of the treaty would be critical.

“A formal collective security treaty could change regional decision-making and consensus by introducing mandatory consultation,” she said.

“Governments might be legally required to notify and consult other members about an emerging security threat, or a proposed security arrangement with an external power.”

The key question would then be who or what country would be given a formal role in determining whether an issue constituted a regional security concern, she said.

“The treaty would need to establish how collective action is authorised. If consensus is retained, every member would continue to have an effective veto.

“Members could be required to notify or consult the region before entering bilateral security agreements involving foreign police, military personnel [and] bases, or strategic infrastructure.”

Dr Powles also suggested a stronger version of the treaty may be needed to achieve this, which would have the potential to “significantly reduce individual governments’ freedom of action” and “probably be the treaty’s most politically contested feature”.

“The key distinction is between consensus over adopting the treaty and decision-making after it enters into force, or if the treaty simply consolidates existing declarations, preserves consensus and makes participation in regional responses voluntary. Its principal effect would be to give existing commitments a more durable legal form.”

‘Competing priorities’ around regional security
Pacific historian and Auckland University of Technology lecturer Dr Marco de Jong highlighted the potential trade-offs around a regional security treaty.

“There are a range of competing priorities when it comes to the formulation of a treaty.

“On the one hand, it may be to codify long-standing norms and principles, which have guided regional security cooperation thus far.

“Alternatively, it might be to embed, and serve as a chapeau for, the emerging regional security architecture, which is predominantly being driven by Australia,” he said.

“Another option is that it might seek to elevate the types of confidence-building or transparency mechanisms, and strategic-trust mechanisms, which have been in bilateral agreements to the regional level.”

Dr De Jong said those scenarios meant vastly different things for the region.

“All three of those potential purposes are in tension when it comes to genuine, Pacific-led regional security.”

Both Dr De Jong and Dr Powles urged careful consideration and discussion on the treaty proposal.

“For instance, what problem does a treaty solve that existing declarations cannot?” Powles asked.

“Which provisions or obligations would be legally binding? How will the tradition and spirit of consensus be upheld? Who will pay for the operationalisation of the treaty? Where does oversight sit? Will the Pacific Islands Forum have oversight? How will disputes be resolved, and can a state withdraw?”

Following Friday’s meeting, regional leaders are due to gather in Palau for the week-long PIF Leaders’ Meeting beginning August 30.

This is expected to be one of the Forum’s largest leaders’ summits, with dialogue partners set to attend — a departure from last year where then-host Solomon Islands excluded dialogue partners.

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World Rugby has denied reports that it gave Samoa an ultimatum to sort out problems over which body governs the sport in the country, or face a ban from international competition.

This follows reports that the Samoan government was given 24 hours — until Friday — to accept a review of its decision to withdraw its support of Lakapi Samoa.

Prime Minister La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt announced earlier this year that he was establishing a rival union to take over the role of Lakapi Samoa (the Samoa Rugby Union).

• READ MORE: Samoa face World Rugby ban over PM’s ‘political madness’, opposition warns
• Samoan government axes Lakapi Samoa

But World Rugby denies reports that it had told Samoa that failure to accept the review would result in Samoa copping a ban — it also confirmed it is involved as a mediator to resolve issues at Lakapi Samoa.

A spokesperson for World Rugby told RNZ Pacific: “We are in active and constructive dialogue with all parties and remain focused on a positive resolution.”

Yesterday, Samoa’s opposition leader Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi said that Samoa faced suspension by World Rugby because of “a dirty political move” by the government and particularly his rival, the current Prime Minister, La’auli.

Tuilaepa spoke to RNZ Pacific after the government announced that it was pulling its support of Lakapi Samoa due to “unresolved internal issues and division” at the national rugby union, and amid reports that Samoa was risking being banned from World Rugby.

RNZ Pacific has contacted Lakapi Samoa and the Samoan government’s press secretariat for a response to Tuilaepa’s comments.

Tuilaepa stepped down as long-time chairman of the Samoa Rugby Union earlier this year after his political stand-off with La’auli threatened to stall a new funding programme for the Pacific’s three top rugby unions.

La’auli had refused to sign any new agreement with the Fijian and Tongan rugby unions until Tuilaepa and his board resigned and made way for new appointments.

Fiji fiasco
The crisis surrounding Samoa rugby has shades of the political problems which caused Fiji to be banned from the World Rugby Council in 2023 over governance concerns, after the government in 2023 effectively took control of the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU).

The following year, the FRU was reinstated as a member of the governing body’s council afterb a suspension of almost 15 months.

However, the FRU has become embroiled in more problems lately, after a dispute over player payments became public.

This week, the FRU board chairman John Sanday said the union had a plan B in place to ensure Flying Fijians players don’t make “ridiculous” demands of management in future.

This follows an incident during Fiji’s recent Nations Championship stint in Europe, where they lost all three test matches to Wales, England and Scotland.

Sanday said players demanded an increase of their daily allowances from F$500 a day to $1000, but the FRU only agreed to pay F$600 per day.

That was despite the fact that players had signed contracts pre-tour.

Sanday said the players argued that the union would make a lot of money from the three games it technically “hosted” on the northern tour.

He has now revealed the FRU will review the squad’s make-up and form a standby squad ready to play for Fiji if current players don’t change their attitude.

The chairman said the FRU was now a business, which required a changed mindset.

Fiji’s former chief prosecutor, Christopher Pryde, claims there was a racist, government-led conspiracy to get rid of him.

The New Zealand lawyer, who is in Aotearoa, spoke to RNZ Pacific Waves after corruption charges against him in Fiji were dropped this week.

Fiji’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) threw out three charges in the Suva Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

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A statement from FICAC said: “The decision was taken because FICAC has been unable to effect service on Mr Pryde in New Zealand, despite attempts to do so.”

“The proceedings concerned charges previously filed in relation to nearly NZ$150,000 in payments and reimbursements received during his tenure as Director of Public Prosecutions. Those allegations have not been determined in court,” the statement said.

“Under section 49 of the Criminal Procedure, the entry of a nolle prosequi brings the present proceedings to an end but does not prevent subsequent proceedings based on the same facts.”

‘Bitter taste’
Pryde, aged 60, has always maintained he was innocent and said the allegations against him were contractual matters rather than criminal offences.

He has previously described the charges as bogus, politically-driven and designed to prevent him from returning to Fiji to prosecute an elite group maligned in last year’s damning Commission of Inquiry into the appointment of Barbara Malimali as FICAC head.

“I am left with a bitter taste towards the current Fijian government and the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) because I don’t think they have played ball with me.

“They made up their mind they wanted to get rid of me and they employed all sorts of tactics in order to do that,” Pryde said.

Pryde claimed that the government’s tactics were designed to intimidate him, and should serve as a warning to expatriates keen to work in Fiji.

“Unfortunately it is a salutary reminder to other expatriates that might be considering taking up a role in public service in Fiji to be careful.” he said.

However, he added that the dispute he had had with the government and the JSC did not effect the relationship he had with the wider community, after living in Fiji for 18 years.

Alleged witch hunt
The Sitiveni Rabuka-led coalition government’s Information Director Samisoni Pareti declined to respond to questions by RNZ Pacific.

Pryde claims FICAC has accused him of evading diplomats who were sent by Fiji to serve him with legal documents.

“It’s ridiculous, they know where I live, they’ve had every opportunity over the last 12 months to serve me,” he said.

Last December, Pryde claimed the Fijian government committed an illegal act on New Zealand soil and sent foreign diplomats to stalk him at home.

“They sent people from the Fijian High Commission in Wellington to my home [in Christchurch] and harangued my neighbours by questioning them as to my whereabouts.

“They acted in an intimidatory way by staking out my home whilst I was away attending my mother’s funeral,” he said, adding that it was the subject of a formal and ongoing police complaint in New Zealand.

“The Prime Minister was made aware of this breach of diplomatic convention but chose to ignore it.”

“The witch hunt against me began when the acting Attorney-General, Siriomi Turaga, accused me of wrongdoing after I was seen with the former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum at a reception at the Japanese Embassy in February 2023,” he said.

‘As long as iTaukei are on top’
Pryde was suspended on full pay for “misbehaviour” two months later and faced a further charge of receiving superannuation payments that had not been approved by the JSC in April 2024.

His superannuation ceased then his salary and all contractual benefits were “unilaterally” cut off by the Fijian government three months later.

“They [the government] want to get rid of me, it’s all part of their ethnonational agenda,” Pryde told RNZ Pacific in December 2024.

“Vulagi [foreigners] and Indo-Fijians are being replaced by iTaukei [indigenous Fijians].

“Hiring in Fiji is not based on merit, the government doesn’t care, as long as iTaukei are at the top and in control,” he said.

A tribunal exonerated Pryde on all charges in January 2025 and he was reinstated to the role, but he stayed in Aotearoa for fear he would be arrested on his return.

Several days after the Tribunal’s decision, FICAC laid fresh corruption charges on him, including receiving a NZ$100,000 gratuity without the President’s approval.

Wrongdoing denied
“I categorically deny any wrongdoing, the dispute was between myself and the JSC, whose chairman, the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, tried and failed to convince the tribunal hearing that I had done something wrong,” Pryde said.

“Issues around the payment of the gratuity were brought up at the tribunal and they were dismissed by the tribunal. So then we have a rehash of things into another format, they failed [with the charges] in the tribunal so they got FICAC to deal with them. That’s not acceptable.”

Prime Minister Rabuka criticised Pryde last July for failing to turn up to work, seven months after he was reinstated.

President Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu then suspended his NZ$185,000 salary and benefits, following a public backlash over his absence.

Pryde said he had been living on his savings over the past year and was “relieved” that the latest corruption charges were dropped.

However, he has filed a judicial review of the President’s decision to cut his pay in the Suva High Court.

Pryde refused to be drawn on whether he would take any further action or what the future held for him workwise.

Nauru’s government has announced plans to set up an embassy in Israel.

The government said Cabinet had endorsed the deployment of a scoping mission to Israel, to assess the diplomatic, operational, and logistical requirements to establish the embassy.

“A diplomatic presence in Israel will serve as an essential platform for advancing [Nauru’s] foreign policy priorities, promoting sustainable development, and deepening bilateral engagement with one of the region’s key partners,” the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

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“The creation of an embassy in Israel represents a significant milestone in [Nauru’s] diplomatic outreach and underscores the nation’s dedication to expanding its global partnerships in support of national development and strategic cooperation.”

The statement did not specify which city the embassy would be established in, but Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar said it would be in Jerusalem.

In a translated social media post shared by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Saar said the Nauruan embassy was expected to be the 10th embassy in Jerusalem, and the fifth since he took office, coming after he also reached an agreement with Colombia’s incoming foreign minister on a similar move.

Fiji and Papua New Guinea are among several countries which have diplomatic missions in Jerusalem rather than Tel Aviv, which is controversial due to the sensitive nature of a territorial dispute between Israelis and Palestinians, who both claim Jerusalem as their capital.

Fiji embassy in Jerusalem
Fiji opened its embassy in Jerusalem in September 2025.

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said earlier last year that establishing an embassy was “not a blanket endorsement of another country’s policies; it is a bridge that allows Fiji to work directly with partners”.

Fiji also reaffirmed its support for a peaceful two-state solution “where both Israelis and Palestinians can live in dignity and security”.

In March this year, Fiji’s human rights watchdog warned that the country’s pro-Israel foreign policy and diplomatic engagement worked against its international obligations and could be enabling “genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity” in Gaza.

Israel has also opened its permanent diplomatic base in Suva.

In January, Saar said that Samoa would open an embassy in Jerusalem this year.

Samoan Prime Minister La’aulialemalietoa (La’auli) Leuatea Schmidt said he instructed Samoa’s foreign ministry to begin preparations for the embassy’s opening by the end of the year, according to a recording of the speech posted on the Samoan government’s Facebook page.

PNG ‘violation’ of international law
When PNG opened its Israeli embassy in Jerusalem in 2023, the Palestinian Authority called it an “aggression” and a “violation” of international law.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape said at the time the move had deep religious significance.

“Many nations choose not to open their embassies in Jerusalem, but we made the conscious choice,” he said.

“This has been the universal capital of the nation and people of Israel.

“For us to call ourselves Christian, paying respect to God will not be possible without recognising that Jerusalem is the universal capital of the people and nation of Israel.”

The United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo and Paraguay also have embassies in Jerusalem.

The Israeli government has a formal policy of offering incentives to countries willing to open embassies in Jerusalem, including financial support for relocation and setup costs.

Fiji’s government is working on a “Diaspora Policy” focused on ensuring Fijians around the globe play a key role in the country’s economic development.

The country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade Sakiasi Ditoka has just been to New Zealand, where he met with investors and the Fijian business diaspora.

Ditoka told RNZ Pacific the increasing interest from the diaspora across New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Europe is positive for the island nation.

• READ MORE: Diaspora policy to strengthen ties with Fijians overseas – Qereqeretabua

He said every effort is being made to ensure that interests are safeguarded and served for the mutual benefit of Fiji and her diaspora investors.

He also confirmed a diaspora policy is being finalised and will be sent to Cabinet for approval soon.

“It’s [diaspora policy] vital. It’s very important for Fiji that we engage with our diaspora. In fact, as we speak, the diaspora policy is being finalised. It’s going through the the final processes of being passed through Cabinet,” he told RNZ Pacific in Auckland on Saturday.

The policy is going through the development sub-committee level, which means that senior officials are now having a look at it before it is escalated to Cabinet for sign-off.

Wide-ranging policy
He said the policy is wide-ranging, but the central theme is “the diaspora community is very, very important to Fiji”.

Ditoka said the levels of investment members of the Fijian diaspora are putting back into the country keep increasing and help propel its economy. It includes overseas remittances, with an ever-increasing number of Fijians moving overseas for work, including sports contracts, the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme in New Zealand and the PALM Scheme in Australia.

The Fijian diaspora serves as the second-largest foreign exchange earner for Fiji’s economy. Personal remittances sent by the diaspora officially surpassed the $1 billion threshold between January to September 2025.

According to The Fiji Times, a total of 1134 Fiji residents departed the country for employment purposes in June 2026 based on the latest figures released by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics.

Employment was the third-largest reason for overseas travel, accounting for 7.9 percent of all resident departures.

The figures show that 407 people left for overseas employment for periods of less than three months, while 318 departed for between three and 12 months.

A further 409 residents left Fiji for employment periods ranging from one to five years.

F$1 billion milestone
Ditoka said the Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) recorded overseas remittances first crossed the F$1 billion milestone in 2022, and have consistently remained above this mark.

The RBF said driven by extensive out-migration and regional labour programmes, remittances have outpaced traditional sectors, like sugar and garment manufacturing, and serve as one of Fiji’s largest sources of foreign exchange, trailing only behind tourism.

More than 60 percent of these financial inflows originate from the Fijian diaspora and seasonal workers living in Australia, the US and New Zealand.

Ditoka said military personnel serving in the United Kingdom, as well as Fiji rugby players all over Europe have also contributed a lot to the remittance figures.

“It’s a marvellous thing to behold, so I encourage our diaspora to keep coming back to Fiji,” he said.

“There are many, some of them who have decided to come and settle back in Fiji, even though they’ve made their lives here in New Zealand and some in Canada, in the US and in Australia.

“Some of them have decided that if they retire, they retire back in Fiji, and we encourage them to keep doing that.”

He said discussions over the past few months have also raised the critical importance of ensuring that systems are changed to be more effective and efficient — which is something he and his ministry is working on.

“As far as the importance of diaspora is to Fiji, they are very important part of Fiji’s economic investment plan, and we continue to engage with them and try to help them in in their plans in investing and working with Fiji,” he said.

Ditoka said there have been “many choke points and blockages” raised with the government in its discussions with the diaspora in Aotearoa.

“So, those are the things I’ve committed to as minister, as well as the permanent secretary who I came with here, to go and work on to make sure that their plans to come back to Fiji is not stopped or slowed down by inefficiencies [and] ineffectiveness of systems and processes that we can work on.”

Duavata partnership
Ditoka and his Permanent Secretary Dr Raijieli Taga were joined by Fiji’s High Commissioner to New Zealand, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, and members of the Fiji Trade Mission in Auckland in meetings in the past week.

It included the signing of a refreshed Duavata Partnership with New Zealand.

Ditoka said the Duavata Partnership (2026-2030) he signed with his New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters was a milestone in the two countries’ bilateral relationship.

He said the agreement was an important step in advancing one of Fiji’s closest relationship and builds on the success of the first agreement that was first signed in March 2022.

Ditoka said the continued growth in bilateral trade, which had reached F$1.9 billion, would be boosted by the agreement, especially as both governments work on achieving F$2 billion in two-way trade by 2030.

“The signing of the refreshed agreement comes at a critical juncture for regional diplomacy and both our nations have reiterated our dedication to the Pacific Islands Forum’s 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and the Ocean of Peace, emphasising that bilateral cooperation under the Duavata Partnership will continue to bolster wider regional solidarity, peace, and sustainable development,” he said.

“We look forward to improving and in increasing all the current things that we’re doing in our relations, as well as other issues where it’s concerned the RSE programme, as well as trade and investment, and what we can do to improve the facilities that are needed to support the work that they do.”

Ways and means talks
Ditoka and his team also met with the New Zealand Fiji Business Council with discussions focusing on ways and means that the Fiji government can help and assist both current and potential investors.

It was followed by attending the ‘Pacific Trade Invest’ and the ‘Future for investment and trade partnerships’ meetings.

He stated the “Future for investment and trade partnerships” meeting was an eye-opener as it featured small to medium-sized economies like New Zealand, Singapore, UAE, Norway, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Rwanda.

“Similar issues. So I think we’ve got our our list full from the things that we need to go and do back when we return to Fiji,” he said.

“For me, that was very important because it’s just going to help us expand our investment footprint back in Fiji, as well as the the mutual benefits that it’ll create for both our two nations

“Looking at the way the current international rules-based order seems to have not worked so well, we believe that we can find a way forward. Also, looking at the World Trade Organisation and how there are concerns that there’s so much inertia in the work that needs to be progressed, but some have stalled for over a decade, some more than that.

“We believe that the plurilateral arrangements such as these will probably pave the way forward for nations such as Fiji to to improve its economic position. Fiji is aiming, in its national development plan, to be a high income country by 2050, and we believe these kinds of relationships and partnerships with our international partners will help us on how to get on the right path, to get to where we want to go.”

Trade office reopening
Meanwhile, Fiji will reopen its Trade and Consular office in Auckland in early October.

Ditoka said that was a critical part of the plan to serve the diaspora better.

“The New Zealand diaspora is one of the most important of the diaspora communities of Fiji abroad, and as far as New Zealand is concerned, about 70 percent of the diaspora community live in the Auckland and surrounding areas,” he said.

“It’s important for us to have this consulate and trade commission set up to help assist in the things that they want to do.

“It’s a very important part of Fiji’s footprint in New Zealand and in helping to get the mutually beneficial relationship of the diaspora and Fiji up and running again.”

Fiji police say a man in his 50s has been taken into custody after he “allegedly issued a threat on social media” to remove the country’s 2013 Constitution or “burn the nation’s capital”.

In a statement on Monday, police added that investigations were continuing.

“The suspect in his 50s was questioned by investigators from the Cybercrime Division at the Criminal Investigations Department Headquarters on Sunday 19 July 2026, and remains in custody,” the statement read.

• READ MORE: Man in custody for alleged social media threat to burn Suva and remove Constitution

This comes as the Fiji government’s dual and parallel constitutional review and truth and reconciliation processes are underway.

Fijian social media users have been warned that “inciteful posts or the practice of sharing such posts” can result in them being prosecuted under Fiji’s criminal laws for offences such as urging political violence, criminal intimidation and malicious acts.

“While respecting one’s freedom of expression and speech, it must be practised with responsibility, as abuse and the breach of the law will not be condoned,” police said in an earlier statement on the issue on Sunday.

All Blacks captain Ardie Savea jetted out to Samoa on Sunday morning, hours after leading his team to a 40-21 win over Ireland at Eden Park.

The former Rongotai College First XV captain and head boy touched down at Faleolo International Airport less than 24 hours after ensuring the All Blacks’ record at Eden Park remained intact. The All Blacks have lost at the ground since 1994.

Savea and his wife, Saskia, are in Samoa with their three children and will travel on to Fiji before returning to rejoin the All Blacks squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa.

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Samoa Observer reported the family was met by Krista Liu of local car rental company Lulu, where they had arranged a vehicle for their stay. They were accompanied by Savea’s parents.

Savea is originally from Suimu village.

The tough looseman is part of the new All Blacks management and leadership team, that has now recorded a clean sheet in their first Test series of 2026.

Having created history in New Zealand because of their Pasifika heritage, head coach Dave Rennie and his team won three out of three in the first leg of the Nations Championship.

Cook Islander
Rennie, whose mother is from the Cook Islands, is the first with Pasifika heritage to be head coach of the All Blacks.

He has Fa’alogo Tana Umaga, who is of Samoan origin and the first Pasifika to be captain of the premier New Zealand side, as one of his assistants.

Savea is part of the 12 players in the current squad who have Pasifika heritage as well.

The side have recorded wins over France, Italy and Ireland in their first three home matches.

While there were some questions around how the side performed against both France and Italy, Rennie believes Saturday night’s win over Ireland in front of more than 48,000 fans in Auckland showed promise of what the team can do moving forward.

Although it was a was a tense start to the match, with both teams having periods on attack, it was the All Blacks who were the most enterprising and they were rewarded with the first try, with lock Patrick Tuipulotu scoring near the posts after several phases.

Savea said post-match he was proud of the team’s performance against Ireland, and applauded the squad as a whole, especially those who did not get game time, for pushing the players at trainings.

‘Control what we can’
“I think for us we only can control what we can control, and that’s our preparation,” he said. “We knew what was at stake and the best way to prepare for them was how we turned up each day and prepared.”

“Thought the lads prepared well, especially our guys that didn’t get a chance. They really pushed us to the limit at trainings and when you get that and then we get a performance like that tonight, just proud of everyone in the squad.”

Savea scored a try in the clash, showing his power when he picked up from the base of a scrum, following a penalty option, and bulldozed his way to the line despite tacklers hanging on to him.

Aumua: We’re always ready’
Tough hooker Asafo Aumua was thrust into the game earlier than planned, when Cody Taylor had to leave the field in the first spell through injury.

Aumua said captain Savea had always reminded the players that as an All Black they have to be ready for the call all the time, which he said was a practical lesson for him on Saturday.

“It was tough,” he said at the post-match conference. “Obviously, didn’t expect to come on there early, but as All Blacks, Ardie always says we’re always ready. So, yeah, just happy to get the win.

“Focusing on the next job, obviously a lineout and just took it moment by moment.”

Aumua was one of the six try-scorers in the match, getting that shortly after he took the field.

“I looked at the big screen my eyes were open, but I could just see black. I did definitely put it down. I just didn’t know if it was on the line or not.”

He said the message from Savea was for the team to keep going, keep the ball moving and keep the opposition guessing.

“Just try and keep keep the ball moving, keep it alive, try not to give the opposition rest. It’s pretty hard fitness-wise.”

Coach Rennie happy
Rennie said post-match the players had put in the hard work and that was beginning to show.

It was a big jump from the close two point 34-32 win over France at the One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch in the first game.

But as the first three wins wrapped up the first international calendar for the year Rennie and his team were also looking forward to the seven-match tour of South Africa, including three tests against the Springboks in South Africa and a fourth in the United States.

The reigning world champions will host matches in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Johannesburg again in Baltimore.

“They’re such a good side, Ireland, as we saw tonight,” Rennie admitted at the post-match conference after the Eden Park dust had settled.

“We asked a lot of questions of them and they defended really well for big parts. If you give them access into your end of the field, they can hurt you, but I thought the balance of the game was really good tonight.

“We looked after the ball really well. Our big men carried and went a little bit more direct and [we had] smarter kicking that created opportunities for us.”

Rennie said the team defended well, especially on their line as Ireland had them on the backfoot time and time again during the match.

Ireland had arrived in New Zealand with two good wins under their belt – beating Australia 33-31 and Japan 36-20 in their first two Nations Championship tests.

“They came here with a lot of confidence,” Rennie said.

“They have won a series here last time and they are a very experienced squad who have played a lot of footy together. We’re quite a new group. These guys played the Six Nations a few months ago.

“I would have taken a one-point win, but I thought we were pretty clinical when it mattered. A lot of the hard work that we’ve been putting in, on and off the field, we saw it on the park today.”

Assistant Blair confident
All Blacks attack coach and one of Rennie’s assistants, Mike Blair said he’s confident they can make history against the Springboks.

New Zealand ran in six tries off the back of some high-tempo and expansive rugby.

“Still some bits that we can do better, definitely,” he told journalists after the game.

“It sounds strange to say when you put 40 points on the board, but some really pleasing stuff, some good ball movement, some good decision making.

“Once we get into the 22, I think we’ve got some growth there. You need variety. You’ve got to have the ability to play through a team, but also to manipulate a team.”

South Africa have also won three first three matches in the series, beating Six Nations teams England, Scotland and Wales.

But Blair is confident the All Blacks can win the upcoming four-test series against the World Champions, which starts next month, if they keep growing and stay consistent.

Rennie will announce the 44-member tour squad next week, with at least 10 more players added to the current squad.

“It’s going to be a big step up for us, so we’re going to have to evolve and improve again,” Blair added.

In other Nations Championship matches at the weekend, Australia managed their first win, a 57-10 win over Italy in Perth on Saturday night.

France beat Japan 42-15, South Africa thrashed Wales 43-0 while England beat Argentina 31-24.

Pacific trio lose again
Meanwhile, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga all lost their games at the weekend.

Fiji led Scotland 17-7 at halftime, following tries from captain Tevita Ikanivere, Selesitino Ravutaumada and Elia Canakaivata.

But Scottish side came back hard in the second spell and scored three of their own tries to win 33-17.

Flying Fijians head coach Senirusi Seruvakula said it was another tough loss, following earlier defeats at the hands of Wales and England.

He said despite preparing well during the week their bench could not function as planned.

“It showed in the first half. Our bench was not good, they did not come and lift the game and that’s what the last 20 minutes showed.

“[Scotland’s] bench was good and they carried the momentum of the game until the end and they never let down their pace.”

Fiji finished the Nations Championship without a win.

Leads given away
Samoa and Tonga also gave away leads in their matches to lose in their World Rugby Nations Cup matches.

Manu Samoa led Romania 17-14 at halftime, but ended up losing by a point in Uruguay.

The Miracle Fai’ilagi captained team scored tries through Alamanda Motuga, Abraham Papali’i, Iakopo Petelo-Mapu and Fai’ilagi himself.

Romania scored five tries, one including that from Fiji-born Iliesa Lesumaitaiti Tiqe in the first half.

Tonga also suffered the same fate against Portugal, going down 32-28 to Portugal in Canada.

The Tongans managed tries through Otunuku Jr Pauta, Taniela Filimone, Telusa Veainu and captain Solomone Kata.

Portugal scored five tries, including a double to Raffaele Storti.

Both Samoa and Tonga had won a game each and lost two on the road out of their three matches.

The second round of both the Nations Cup and the Nations Championship will be held in November.

Other Nations Cup results:
Hong Kong bt Uruguay 42-40
Georgia bt Chile 49-22
USA bt Spain 29-22
Canada bt Zimbabwe 23-19

The government says it had no influence over $200,000 in funding for a documentary ahead of Fiji’s election about a Fijian cabinet minister facing down a scandal.

The Ministry of Pacific Peoples funded the film Algorithm of Shame: In the Village, Everybody Knows was released in May, and tackles the impacts of social media in closely connected communities.

Marketing describes it as a “powerful Pacific-led documentary set in Fiji that exposes the devastating impact of online shaming in the age of social media, where algorithms reward outrage, humiliation, and exposure without care or accountability”.

• READ MORE: Algorithm of Shame, Fijian documentary focuses on the effects of social media from a Pacific lens
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The film focuses on two people: trans woman Rhonda who lost her friend to online abuse, and Fijian politician Lynda Tabuya.

The film’s release just ahead of the Fijian election — set for sometime between August and February, with no firm date yet confirmed — could be seen as softening the image of Tabuya ahead of her potential re-election.

Given the New Zealand taxpayer funding, it is vulnerable to accusations of political interference by another government.

However, the film’s executive producer Tuki Laumea told RNZ the New Zealand government had “no editorial control over this documentary”.

“It is incorrect to say this film is about Minister Lynda Tabuya. Minister Tabuya appears in approximately 15 percent of the film,” he told RNZ.

‘Highly topical issue’
“The film is about the highly topical issue of social media harm in Pacific communities, including its impact on young people, its links to suicide and several other serious issues related to online harm.”

“This film was shown three times on Mai TV in Fiji in May and early June. It was not made widely available online and is currently unavailable to view anywhere in the world, including Fiji and New Zealand. No wide public release date has been set.”

Tabuya, the former Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, was consigned to the back benches over a leaked video of her dancing naked that went viral on Christmas Eve 2024.

She had been pushing to ban porn sites in Fiji, but was dismissed as a minister on Boxing Day by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.

Fiji police later described the video leak as an invasion of privacy, and Tabuya herself said it was made for her ex-husband and that her phone was stolen and hacked.

The police cybercrime unit — acting on a complaint Tabuya had laid — eventually identified two suspects in the leak, and Rabuka welcomed her back to Cabinet in August as Minister of Information — a role he previously held himself.

He said at the time she was “well-suited to spearhead the government’s public relations machinery through the Ministry of Information” with her “personality and her accessibility to the press and the media people”.

Independently produced
In a statement, the Ministry for Pacific Peoples pushed back on questions about whether the funding could be seen as electoral interference, softening the image of a foreign Cabinet Minister beset by scandal.

A spokesperson for the ministry said the documentary was independently produced through the Moana Reo Media Fund, administered by Pacific Media Network.

“The decision to fund the documentary makers $200,000 was made independently of the ministry through an established funding process, which means editorial content of funded projects was not influenced by the New Zealand government in any way and cannot be seen as electoral interference,” a spokesperson said.

“The documentary focuses on the broader social impacts of online harm, cyberbullying and digital shaming, which are issues affecting communities globally.”

Similarly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the documentary was “independently produced and independently selected through an established funding process”.

“The government does not influence the editorial content of funded projects. This is not a New Zealand government commentary on Fijian political matters,” a spokesperson said.

Pacific Peoples Minister Paul Goldsmith said in a statement: “The Moana Reo Media Fund was funded under the previous Labour government. It is administered by the Pacific Media Network, which operates purposely at arm’s length of the ministry and ministers.”

Public interest documentary
Foreign Minister Winston Peters declined to comment.

Laumea, a filmmaker for two decades, is the co-director and co-producer of the “independently produced public-interest documentary about the impact of social media harm in Pacific communities.”

“This film received public funding, as does public-interest journalism across New Zealand and the Pacific, including RNZ and Pasifika TV through PCBL.”

“The minister is among several voices in this film, including a religious leader, a lawyer, students, advocacy groups, a counsellor, the Online Safety Commission, community leaders, a male survivor and a trans rights activist.

“Minister Tabuya is in a unique position to contribute to this conversation because of her very specific and public experience of online abuse,” Laumea said.

As geopolitical tensions increase in the Pacific region and numerous security alliances are rapidly forged, questions are being raised over whether the Ocean of Peace concept is being hijacked.

The Ocean of Peace Declaration was made last year by members of the Pacific Islands Forum, recognising the role of civil society in peacebuilding.

However, the emphasis of the initiative seems to have quickly shifted.

• READ MORE: Jeremy Rose: The nuclear-free Pacific and hypersonic hypocrisy
• Other Ocean of Peace reports

Australia and Fiji take the lead
Australia last week signed the Vuvale Union and Ocean of Peace Alliance treaties with Fiji, the latest in a series of regional pacts Canberra has forged with Pacific Islands countries.

“The Vuvale Union and the Ocean of Peace Alliance have a really strong regional component,” Australia’s High Commissioner in Suva, Peter Roberts said in a post on X.

He said the new treaties underlined Fiji’s position as a regional leader.

“I think we’ve all seen during this fuel crisis how important Fiji is as a hub. And we’ve seen on security matters how important Fiji is as a regional leader, including through Prime Minister Rabuka’s vision for the Ocean of Peace.”

According to Roberts, the treaties empower Australia and Fiji to support the Pacific region in efforts against security threats such as transnational crime, cyber crime and illegal fishing.

“Including in this Fiji and Australia supporting the establishment of the Ocean of Peace Centre, in close cooperation with the Pacific islands Forum. So you’ll see Australia and Fiji standing together in support of the stability and prosperity of the region.”

Value for money
The Vuvale Union is backed by around A$1 billion in funding for Fiji by Australia over a decade, while Australia is also funding the Ocean of Peace Centre to the tune of around A$22 million.

Geopolitical commentator Dr Connor Graham from the Lowy Institute said Australia sees great value for money in these arrangements.

He said Australia was driven by the aim of keeping China out of Pacific waters and maintaining its position as the dominant security partner in the region.

“I’d note as well, a billion dollars over 10 years is a lot of money. But it’s relatively small fries in terms of defence, and the rest of the defence budget and militarisation. So I think this sort of defence through diplomacy is quite a cost effective use of money.”

While Canberra notches a big diplomatic win, regional civil society has been left wondering where it all leaves the Ocean of Peace Declaration.

Shift away from peacebuilding?
The declaration came together off the back of significant engagement with — and made provision for the leadership of — Pacific civil society in peacebuilding, especially women and Indigenous communities.

“This meaningful inclusion was celebrated and consultation followed on the premise of institutional support for conflict prevention and mediation initiatives grounded in culture, like those that were so successful with the Bougainville conflict, or in bringing Kiribati back into the Forum,” Pacific historian and AUT lecturer Dr Marco de Jong said.

But now, with the signing of the Ocean of Peace Alliance and plans to establish the Centre, the language has shifted from being about conflict prevention, peacebuidling and mediation towards deterrence, and the countering of China through military means.

It coincides with the plan of the Australian-led Joint Heads of Pacific Security to insert itself into the Pacific Islands Forum-led regional security architecture, and to advance a regional deployment framework

Joey Tau, the coordinator of the Pacific Network on Globalisation and the chair of the Pacific Regional NGO Organisations Alliance, said that as civil society, they welcomed the original Ocean of Peace initiative

“But our main concern is that we hope such a declaration is not coopted or used as a strategy to advance external security and military interest of external parties.”

He said the Ocean of Peace concept should be something that draws from existing regional priorities and responds to legacy issues for the Pacific.

These include self-determination problems in West Papua and Kanaky New Caledonia; the planetary biodiversity crisis; exploitation of ocean resources; nuclear testing and new threats of nuclearisation in the region.

“One, the Rarotonga Treaty, which declares our region is a nuclear-free region, and secondly, other initiatives as such, need to be informed by the Pacific. And when I say Pacific, Pacific peoples.

“With the proposal of a peace institute, I think it needs further consultation. It needs to be informed by Pacific people, and one that is not determined by external parties.”

Women and peacebuilding
Pacific Women Mediators Network coordinator of political engagement Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls is concerned about the lack of focus on peacebuilding in how the Ocean of Peace initiative is being developed.

“For us, demilitarisation is at the top of the agenda,” she told RNZ Pacific.

“You can’t talk about peace with simply saying that it is the absence of violence or conflict. We have to talk about peacebuilding in the operationalisation of the Ocean of Peace Declaration, and that has been clear for us from the start.”

She said it was important not to see peace building as simply a regional security agenda.

“It is critical that the future or the operationalisation of the Ocean of Peace Declaration through the Pacific Islands Forum needs a stronger focus on peace building in practice, not simply from seeing peace through a traditional security or militarised lens, but through a civilian lens, through a civil society lens, through a people-centered lens.”

“It’s important that we don’t just see peacebuilding as simply a regional security agenda,” Bhagwan-Rolls said.

“We feel that there is a need in forging alliances to also support the forging of peace-building alliances and not just security alliances, and that peace cannot just simply stand as a word of inaction, but we talk about transformative peace.”

As far as the Ocean of Peace Centre is concerned, Dr de Jong said its ultimate purpose had not been made clear, leading to speculation within regional civil society.

“Certainly, regional civil society asked for a peace centre, but maybe they got a military base instead,” he said.

“This has, in effect, shifted the focus of the Declaration itself towards deterrence, and the countering of China through military means.”

Things are moving fast
Regional civil society is also concerned that the Ocean of Peace initiative is being dominated by Australia and Fiji — not necessarily with Pacific regional buy-in

Tau said that to declare something as regional required wider consultation, not just an agreement between two countries.

“Anything of a peace regional peace institute or anything further along those lines needs proper consultation,” he told RNZ Pacific.

“So I must caution: what stems from a bilateral agreement should not very much impact the regional steps. We have to caution ourselves around that, it calls for wider consultation, and I think that that is the proper process of informing policy.”

Bhagwan-Rolls said they would continue as a civil society peace building network, and as a feminist peacebuilding network, to bring attention to the priority issues from their members and communities right across twenty Pacific Island countries and non-independent states.

She called on the foreign ministers of the Pacific Islands Forum to ensure things don’t move too hastily and that substantive consultation with civil society peacebuilders takes place.

Mahendra Chaudhry — a former Fiji prime minister removed from power and held hostage during the 2000 coup — wants George Speight to name those behind the racist takeover.

The 84-year-old Labour Party leader, who became Fiji’s first prime minister of Indian heritage in 1999, made the comment after Speight — the coup frontman — appeared before the Constitutional Review Commission last week.

Speight emerged into the political limelight in a formal suit and glasses, after spending 24 years in a maximum security jail for treason. The ex-convict has called on the perpetrators of the country’s past political upheavals to own up, saying “if you want redemption, you have to confess”.

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However, Chaudhry told RNZ Pacific it is up to Speight to name the co-conspirators involved in the failed takeover.

“He has the answers, he knows, because he’s always been regarded as the frontman. There were people who were behind him but they remain unidentified to this day,” Chaudhry said.

“He has himself said that those who were associated with him are roaming around freely.”

Need for closure
The veteran politician said many Fijians still want to know who the masterminds were behind the coup.

“He [Speight] can help bring about closure to the whole episode because it still remains open, people don’t said know really who was behind the coup,” he said.

“Only he and [Josefa] Nata know, but they are hesitant, they are reluctant to name them.”

Nata, who was a public relations man at the time, became one of the faces of the coup along with Speight, and has admitted he played a key role as a negotiator.

Fiji has been rocked by four coups since gaining independence in 1970. The first two, in May and September 1987, were led by then-military lieutenant-colonel Sitiveni Rabuka, who is the current prime minister.

In 1999, Chaudhry was sworn in as the country’s first Indo-Fijian prime minister, but the Labour Party leader’s election stoked racial tension in Fiji.

A year later, Speight led rebel soldiers from the military’s Counter-Revolutionary Warfare Unit in an armed takeover of the then-coalition government. Chaudhry and his government were held hostage for 56 days.

He later pleaded guilty to treason and received the death penalty, which was later commuted to life imprisonment. However, he was granted a presidential pardon and released from prison on 19 September 2024.

‘Bigger issue at stake’
Nata, who also spent 24 years in jail for treason before his release in December 2023, has declined to name those who orchestrated the coup “for the sake of the families involved”.

However Chaudhry said there was a bigger issue at stake.

“The families would have supported these people when they were involved in the coup, whether they deserve sympathy I don’t know,” he said.

“It’s a question of the other people, they should be thinking about those who really suffered the pain and anguish of the coup.”

Chaudhry has his own views about who the perpetrators are but said no-one would believe him.

“We know that it was our parliamentary opposition who were involved in the coup because they wanted to get back into power,” Chaudhry said.

“So it was them and their associates, but I cannot name them.”

Rabuka did not serve as the leader of the opposition after the 1999 election, before he resigned to chair the country’s highest indigenous body, the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC).

“We know that the GCC, in meetings which were held subsequent to the coup, were in support of [the 2000 coup],” Chaudhry said.

Chaudhry defends Labour govt
Meanwhile, Speight told the commission during his submission that the events and policies that unfolded during the Chaudhry-led government’s first year in office ultimately led to his actions.

Responding on Wednesday, Chaudhry told RNZ Pacific that Speight’s explanation had no factual basis.

“It is clear that his opinion was not shared by the majority of Fiji citizens at the time,” he said.

He cited a Tebbutt-Times poll conducted in December 1999, which showed his approval rating at 62 percent and a disapproval rating of 15 percent.

He said an editorial in The Fiji Times at the time described the result as “a remarkable performance — and a ringing endorsement by the public of his performance as prime minister”, adding that it was the highest rating ever recorded in a Tebbutt-Times poll.

Chaudhry said that in just one year in office, the coalition government had introduced a series of socio-economic reforms, including removing VAT from a range of staple food items, while achieving a record 9.6 percent economic growth rate and strong business and investor confidence.

Race-fuelled coup
He argued that the campaign against his government in the lead-up to the coup was fuelled by racial politics rather than public dissatisfaction.

“It is well-recorded that the anti-Chaudhry agitation whipped up over the next few months [before the coup] came from ethno-nationalist propaganda and deliberate disinformation spread by the opposition and others, some of whom were driven by greed,” he said.

“Race was used as a weapon to fuel emotions and discredit the government.”

Chaudhry said this was why the Fiji Labour Party urged the commission during its submission to consider constitutional and legislative safeguards to prevent the exploitation of ethnicity for political gain.

Speight has never apologised to Chaudhry in person or asked him for forgiveness.

When asked if he was prepared to forgive Speight, Chaudhry replied: “I can’t answer that”.

Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr says countries of the wider Pacific region need to work together to reduce geopolitical tensions and the risk of nuclear conflict.

This comes after China’s test launch of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a dummy warhead into the South Pacific on Monday.

Beijing said the test was “consistent with international law and customary international practice and is not directed at any specific country or target”.

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Whipps spoke to RNZ Pacific about his country’s concerns over China’s actions and how Palau wants a more collaborative and transparent approach to international affairs in the Pacific.

(The transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)

JOHNNY BLADES: Big news this week in the South Pacific with the test missile launch by China, a nuclear-capable missile test. What are your thoughts about that?

SURANGEL WHIPPS JNR: Well, first of all, Palau was unfortunately in war during the Second World War, a site of one of the bloodiest battles ever. And when the people of Palau passed their Constitution, which today is Constitution Day, 46 years ago, one of the parts of the Constitution was a nuclear-free constitution, and I think that just goes to our ambition to preserve peace and never get into the situation that we were in the Second World War.

So when China acts in very opaque or secretive launches like this, it raises anxiety, fears, and causes great concern for all of us that live on these islands that want to live in peace and harmony, and that was demonstrated last year in Honiara [at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)], when we all signed the Pacific Ocean of Peace Declaration.

The missile really went right into the heart of the Pacific, crossing over all of us in the Pacific. Of course, Palau is very close to China, so anything that comes across comes near us. We know in 2024, they launched a missile, they didn’t inform us, this one is launched — they didn’t inform us, and these types of behaviours really go against long standing treaties.

There’s the Hague Code of Conduct, which 145 states subscribe to, about voluntary pre-launch notifications — they didn’t follow that, so this is where we are in very concerning times with these types of activities.

We ask China to act and follow international treaties, respect sovereignty. We understand every country has a way to defend themselves, but at the same time they wouldn’t be allowed to put other countries in harm’s way, and that’s why it’s important that we follow law that we’ve established and treaties that we’ve established.

JB: Is Palau also concerned about the missile tests that the US regularly holds in the Pacific?

SWJ: Well, the US has a base in the Marshall Islands, they follow protocols and inform countries that are in their vicinity about what’s going on. So I think we all understand that countries have to defend themselves, but the reason why we have these protocols is to ensure that we’re all informed and there’s a transparent process.

What is the purpose of this testing? It seems to us that now we’re on a rapid buildup of nuclear capability, which the world was working toward reducing. So we definitely need to work together to bring tensions down and reduce nuclear risk for our ocean.

JB: Were you just saying earlier that China didn’t inform your government before its missile test, because I know it did inform some of the regional countries, at least?

SWJ: Yes, it did not inform us, and [this] also occurred in 2024 where we weren’t informed. We also raised concerns then. Based on where they’re launching them from in China and ending up in the Pacific, they come over our area, and they could easily sway and end up on our islands, that’s of course our concern.

We feel that it’s important that we’re transparent and we’re informed. Interestingly, Chen Bo, the special envoy for China, he was in Fiji when we were having [Forum Troika meeting]. He did not mention to anybody there that they were doing these tests, and this was just a few days before the launch.

You would think that a high official from the Chinese government, who saw me there and met with me, and wanted to talk about issues instead of what they were doing, was quite odd.

JB: Your country is in an interesting position being one of the countries in the region that recognises Taiwan diplomatically, but I note you’ve sort of talked about being open to all partners, and with the Pacific Islands Forum summit coming up in your country, I think you’ve given the nod for China to also join the summit. Is that your approach, kind of like open to all?

SWJ: We have to understand that, first of all, the Pacific Island Leaders Forum that’s being hosted in Palau is a Pacific Island leaders forum, so that means it follows what the Pacific Island leaders agreed to. We all respect the other sovereignty. Yes, I have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. We don’t have diplomatic relations with China, but this is a Pacific Island Forum and under the Pacific Island Forum, China is a dialogue partner, Taiwan is a development partner, both countries contribute to the Pacific Islands Forum. So as partners, as I’ve always said, everyone is welcome.

Now, I’ve also made it very clear that there’s meetings for dialogue partners, there’s meetings for develop partners. These are separate meetings. The only time that Taiwan wasn’t allowed to a Pacific Island Forum meeting was in Solomon Islands, but that wasn’t just Taiwan, it was all all partners were told they weren’t allowed to come.

What I consistently said is that in Palau, of course, everybody is welcome to participate according to all the ways that we participate in all other forums. That’s why China, as a dialogue partner, will come and participate as a developed partner. We don’t have a bilateral relationship, but I guess I’d say through the Forum we have a relationship, and that relationship is respected and valued, just like all relationships that we have with our partner.

The Forum is an opportunity to bring partners in and say, ‘How are you here to help promote the 2050 strategy? Are you here to help promote peace and security?’ I think at the Forum it’s important to bring China, and maybe they can share how they are promoting peace and security for us all in this blue Pacific, which is for us, we feel threatened and concerned and disappointed about their recent actions.

JB: Many Pacific leaders are making clear that Pacific Islands countries want peace. I’m just wondering, with all the geopolitical kind of competition, is it unhelpful that Australia, for instance, is very busy signing these sort of defence and security treaties with various Pacific countries? Does it effectively ratchet up the tension when we need it to be going down?

SWJ: I believe that we should be working with partners to preserve peace and prosperity and freedom. Australia signing declarations with partners, like monument partners that share the same values that respect rule of law, freedom, and democracy is important.

Building alliances to me to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific that promotes peace that we all want. Palau has, of course, a Compact of Free Association with the United States. It’s very clear our relationship is fine. And the United States has a working relationship with Australia. So these all work together to ensure deterrence, because we all also believe in that if you want peace, you have to be prepared to deter.

JB: Do you think everyone needs to work together a bit more in the wider Pacific, including China and the US, in the Pacific Islands region. Does it need to be more collaborative?

SWJ: I think that’s always the goal — to be able to communicate clearly, so we know what everybody’s intentions are, operate in a transparent manner, and that’s why there’s all these treaties to work toward that area that we can trust each other and that we can work together to promote peace.

Unfortunately, for us in Palau, you would like to see China moving in that direction, but for Palau, that hasn’t been the case. China continues to disrespect our EEZ (exclusive economic zone) again, another research vessel in our area, and maybe it was, who knows, maybe it was here to travel the metal, that missile that was flying over.

But this is why dialogue, transparency, builds trust, cooperation, and reduces tensions, and that’s what I think where it needs to start from.

Unfortunately China acts in manners that bully; for example, they didn’t spend time talking to me about the missile that they’re going to launch. They spent time lecturing me, totally disrespecting Palau, and telling us how to run the Pacific Island Forum, when the Forum has clear rules, the members of all group, too, and trying to tell us how we should run the Pacific Island Forum.

If we don’t do it their way and deny certain countries from coming, then therefore, retaliate. I mean, what kind of language is that? And so that’s deeply concerning to us. Then a few days later, launching a missile just goes to show that they don’t respect our sovereignty. They act in a way to bully us and you are saying things like, ‘well, you’re just a country, we’re a big country’.

Obviously, we know we’re a small country, but we’re still a sovereign country, and our sovereignty should be respected, and also the integrity of the PIF should be respected, and it’s unfortunate they try to bully and and and do what they do.

We all want peace, we want to promote peace and trust and cooperation, and that’s the goal, and that’s why they’re allowed to come to Palau, because is is about us working together in partnership.

JB: Do you think the Pacific Islands Forum that’s coming up in your country will be dominated by this dynamic, this tension of geopolitics, and possibly about dominated by defence discussions?

SWJ: I hope not. This conference should be about building resilience in the Pacific, working toward the 2050 Strategy. How do we have 100 percent renewable Pacific? How do we manage our ocean sustainably, and ask for investment to come into the Pacific, to help us develop fisheires and develop tourism, and the importance of protection of biodiversity so that we can really build a sustainable future, not just for the Pacific, but for the planet, because we believe that a healthy oceans and [give us a] planet.

The biggest security for us is an issue that should be talked about is sea-level rise, storms, the impacts of climate change, not these other geopolitical tensions, which, if anything, we should work to reduce, not inflame. I hope that by having everybody in Palau, we reduce those tensions, not increase them.

A group of former Pacific prime ministers, presidents and senior diplomats has warned that Pacific Islands countries are at a crossroads as geopolitical competition reshapes the region.

This comes after China fired a test nuclear-capable missile in the South Pacific on Monday, and amid Australia’s busy campaign of signing security treaties with Pacific countries.

The Pacific Elders Voice group warns that growing geopolitical competition in the Pacific is threatening the future of regionalism and the sovereignty of island nations.

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It also warns that larger neighbours are reframing the Pacific region’s vulnerabilities — including climate change, economic dependence and geographic isolation — as opportunities for external influence.

Security agenda
Things are moving fast, too fast in the eyes of many Pacific Islands leaders who are concerned about militarisation of their region.

As well as the spate of treaties Canberra has been pursuing, a number of security and defence initiatives have recently begun including on regional responses to maritime threats and defence force integration between some regional countries adjacent to the Pacific Islands Forum.

But the Pacific Elders Voice group’s chairman, Anote Tong, who is a former president of Kiribati, told RNZ Pacific that the focus of the region was being steered away from the core issues confronting Pacific Islanders.

“We’ve got to make sure that we don’t create this proliferation of different institutions, which then detract away from the focus of what it is that we at Pacific Islands countries regard as the highest priority security consideration,” he said.

“So it’s about making sure that all of these are aligned to what the Forum as the prime body which should be allocating these priorities, that they’re all in alignment with the Forum priorities.”

The Pacific Elders said that its concern was not with cooperation:

“The Pacific has always been strongest when it acts collectively. Our concern is with forms of cooperation that weaken Pacific authority, diminish accountability, or turn vulnerability into permission for external influence.”

Different interests
Tong acknowledged that geopolitical tensions are currently high, and that at such times Pacific countries come under huge pressure.

“I know from my own experience that there’s been times when we’ve gone along, even though an issue has no direct relevance to us, and because why, because it is important to maintain solidarity in the region,” he said.

“I think if we present ourselves as being solid, then that is a source of strength, and I think we have demonstrated this on international issues where we have come together as a region that actually influenced the international agenda.

“One example is on climate change, and of course, also on the ocean, the relevance of the ocean as a key international item on the agenda.”

But the way it is going, Pacific Islanders feel increasingly deserted by Australia and New Zealand on the climate crisis, Tong said.

“I, for one, have made that very clear in my interactions with the Australian government. New Zealand has changed its position recently, because climate change has the potential and the real capacity to destroy the future of our future generations.

“So that is the prime security issue, but that’s not important, we are at odds with our larger neighbours on this issue.”

‘Act together as equals’
In their statement, the Pacific Elders Voice said that the Pacific Forum’s Ocean of Peace initiative depended on sovereign Pacific nations working together as equals through transparent, accountable institutions that reflect shared Pacific values and priorities.

Tong said it was crucial for regionalism, and the sovereignty of Pacific Island nations, that they work together.

“The recent [Chinese missile] test — what does that say? How do we respond to that, or if we should respond at all? These are the questions.

“But I think what the whole point is that let’s all keep it together, so that it goes through one channel, so that they’re all being kept in the one place, because otherwise we could be going at a tangent to our primary objectives as a region.”

The Pacific Elders said that “true regional security will never be achieved by concentrating authority or allowing vulnerability to determine whose voice carries greatest weight.

“It will be achieved by strengthening the capacity of sovereign Pacific nations to act together, as equals, in pursuit of our shared future.”

The widow of a deceased Fijian farmer is claiming that her husband was beaten by police during a raid — and told to lie about it.

Ane Vakararawa’s husband, Iveri Tuimasi, died two weeks ago — yet another in a string of deaths this year where law enforcement is alleged to have played a role.

Police have acknowledged that there was a raid on the couple’s property on Beqa Island, and in a statement last week, said they would interview the officers involved.

• READ MORE: Calls to dismantle joint taskforce rejected by Fiji govt despite brutality allegations
• Other Fiji police brutality reports

Vakararawa has alleged that Tuimasi was severely beaten during the raid, suffering a blow to the head, and a liver rupture that required surgery. It is also alleged the officers — including a soldier — coerced Tuimasi into saying that he had sustained his injuries from a fall.

Sharing her story with RNZ Pacific, Vakararawa said that her husband asked her to get the word out before he died.

“One week prior, he somehow knew it, and he was telling me that if anything happens, I need to be strong,” Vakararawa said.

“He kept telling me, I need to post it, I need to post the things that the officers did to him.”

Another death
Three weeks ago, RNZ Pacific reported on the death of another Fijian, Sakiasi Ose Radravu, who had been raided in uptown Suva.

Radravu’s family said he had been beaten, tortured and sodomised by officers, which Amnesty International described as typical of Fijian authorities.

Less than a week before Radravu’s raid, Jone Vakarisi, widely reported by local media as a known drug peddler, was found dead in a military prison.

Tuimasi and Radravu both have sepsis listed as their primary cause of death. Both of their death certificates listed a variety of other factors, but both families insist that their loved ones were totally fine before their encounters with the police.

Tuimasi’s certificate noted that a liver abscess had caused the sepsis, as well as a cerebral edema, a dangerous buildup of fluid in the brain. It also noted a “history of abdominal severe blunt force trauma”.

Both the police and military have been asked for a response.

‘I knew my husband didn’t jump’
Vakararawa could not recall how many police officers were there — but she insisted that there was also at least one military officer.

She said they came to their home on March 27 at around 6am local time, on a tip that Tuimasi was growing marijuana on their farm, which was 30 minutes away.

“They didn’t show me any search warrant, they went inside, they started raiding our property from the living room, right to the kitchen, in our rooms and our compound. One of the officers said that he found some marijuana seedlings on our shelves.”

She said they left and boated around parts of the island were the family would grow cassava. They returned three hours later.

“My husband didn’t come back with them. One police officer asked me ‘did you know where your husband left earlier that night’ and I told him ‘no, why?’, and he said because he ran away.

“When they were talking, I heard one police officer say ‘when we catch him, we have to punish him.”

By 2pm, police officers had left and returned again, with Tuimasi in custody, clearly injured. Vakararawa was told Tuimasi had thrown a stone at one of them, and as they pursued him, he stumbled and fell off of a nearby cliff.

The officers took him to Navua Hospital, and Vakararawa visited the following morning.

‘He was in pain’
“When I went to the hospital… he wasn’t able to sit properly, we could see how much pain he was in,” Vakararawa told RNZ Pacific.

With the officers still there, Vakararawa asked her husband quietly whether the story was true.

“He looked, and I asked him: ‘did you jump’, not loudly, I just signalled to him … and he shook his head.”

“I knew that my husband didn’t jump, because we used to farm up the hill, but now we don’t farm anymore there.”

She said he had a boot mark on his chest, a dark bruise on the back of his head, and cuts on his hand.

‘He wouldn’t be able to tell the truth’
Tuimasi was transferred to CWM Hospital in Suva shortly after his arrival at Navua, where he had surgery.

“He slept for about a week, they put him on sleeping medications … so, when he was sleeping, I went and filed a report against the officers [on] March 30.

“He got discharged on May 10, and he was telling me to tell the officer in charge that he’s okay, he’s ready to for his statement to be taken. But the officer in charge, she just called once … she said that she was busy with other cases.”

Over the next month, Tuimasi rapidly lost weight and became weaker by the day. His death certificate would later note that he had “severe protein calorie malnutritions”.

He was in and out of hospital, with “multiple surgical interventions” and a “recent history of hospitalisation for septic shock due to septicaemia.” As he deteriorated, Vakararawa described him as “traumatised”.

“He was eating, he was drinking, but somehow he kept dropping his weight, he was shrinking.”

Two days before he died, Vakararawa made a long Facebook post sharing their story, at Tuimasi’s insistence. She noted that despite his best efforts to talk to the police, they never returned his calls. Tuimasi died on June 19, in the afternoon — it would be the following morning that Vakararawa heard from them.

‘Fell from a cliff’
“An officer called … she told me that in Navua, [Tuimasi] admitted that he fell from a cliff before they transferred him to CWM [in Suva].”

“I told her, ‘ma’am, you have to understand that when they brought my husband to the hospital, he was coming with the very people that assaulted him. They could have threatened him along the way to tell the doctor that he really fell.’ He wouldn’t be able to tell the truth.”

The Fiji Police Force said on June 23 that Tuimasi’s autopsy had been completed, and that Vakararawa’s complaints were with the CID.

“The next course of action is to interview all those involved in Mr Tuimasi’s arrest following a drug raid in Dakuni in Beqa.”

“Following the interview process, all statements, evidentiary documents and reports will be submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for independent legal review.”

Fiji’s military has hit out against budget cuts it copped last Friday.

In a social media post, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), which has gained influence in law enforcement over the last year, issued an apparent warning to detractors to recognise the role they play in Fijian society.

“The RFMF… genuinely respects the concerns raised in public commentary… that military spending should be reduced on the grounds that Fiji is not engaged in conventional warfare,” said RFMF commander Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai.

• READ MORE: What the RFMF means to Fiji: Beyond the Budget — and into the grey zone
• Fiji military puts public ‘on notice’ citing national security threats
• Other Fiji military reports

“But we ask those who hold this view to look again.”

In the 2026-2027 Budget, the RFMF lost around FJ$14.8 million (NZ$11.5 million) — a 9 percent cut — and is projected to lose another $1.1 million next year.

Fiji Sun reported that, for Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, the rationale behind the cut was Fiji’s decision to scale back overseas peacekeeping commitments.

But the three-part post, titled “What the RFMF means to Fiji – Beyond the Budget and into the grey zone”, outlined the military’s view of itself as essential in efforts against the drug trade and corruption — and its social value.

“The RFMF has never asked for recognition. But perhaps it is time we offer it anyway,” it read.

Govt revenue falling
“And in doing so, ask ourselves honestly what it would cost us not to have it.”

While announcing the budget, Finance Minister Esrom Immanuel revealed that government revenue was falling while expenditure was climbing.

The country’s budget deficit is more than FJ$200 million higher than last year, due in part to a lower tax take.

Immanuel said the government was shifting cash towards infrastructure projects and private sector development.

A former coup convict in Fiji claims the country will remain unstable while the Indigenous  iTaukei are economically marginalised.

Josefa ‘Jo’ Nata, who spent 24 years in jail for treason, told the Fiji government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission that “the lot of iTaukei has not improved a single bit [as a result of the coups], if anything their situation has regressed”.

“Indigenous [iTaukei] should never again be hoodwinked into supporting any coup supposedly carried out in their name, to raise their standard of living or correct supposed past injustices,” the 68-year-old said.

• READ MORE: Fiji’s Jo Nata reflects on the 2000 coup: ‘We let the racism genie out of the bottle’
• Other Jo Nata reports

Fiji has been rocked by four coups since gaining independence in 1970. The first two, in May and September 1987, were led by then-military Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka, who is the current prime minister.

In 1999, Mahendra Chaudhry was sworn in as the country’s first Indo-Fijian prime minister. Nata, a former journalist, was a political adviser to the Fijian Association Party, a coalition partner in the Labour-led government.

Chaudhry’s election stoked racial tension in Fiji and a year later, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) rebel Counter-Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) unit soldiers, led by businessman George Speight, staged an armed takeover.

Chaudhry and his government were held hostage for 56 days.

Coup public face
Nata became the public face of the coup on 14 May 2000, and although he told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in May that he was not involved in planning it, he admits he played a key role as a negotiator.

“Without realising it, I was getting myself involved. So much so that I was the one administering the oath of office at [swearing-in] before usurper-nominated President Ratu Jope Seniloli,” he told the Commission.

“My face was plastered on TV on every home around Fiji and around the world. The overseas parachute press had started to drop in. If I think back now, the whole charade was a burlesque of Pygmalion proportion.”

Nata told the commission that despite the negative press over the role of the CRW unit in the coup, its soldiers prevented even worse atrocities from occurring to the hostages — including the “last cannibal feast” and “planned assassinations of key people”.

He also claimed that the unit prevented Parliament House in the capital, Suva, from being torched to the ground once it was empty.

According to Nata, the CRW unit was abandoned by those who had allegedly orchestrated events from behind the scenes.

“The unit was left in the lurch carrying the baby. The masters did not show up,” he said.

Branded as ‘mastermind’
Nata said that while the court later branded him as one of the masterminds of the coup, that honour belonged elsewhere.

Since his release from jail on 20 December 2023, he has campaigned against coups.

“No coup, in my view, can ever be justified … for those misadventures we know as coups were based on lies, visions of grandeur and opportunism,” Nata told the commission.

“I have been labelled an opportunist. I do not push back. I accept, worse, I was a hypocrite.”

“I was a traitor, as the court rightly described me. I betrayed my chief, the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the government, the people I worked with and the profession that gave me wings,” he said.

“The reality of unlawful takeovers is that one group of people will suffer more than others. In 1987 and 2000, it was the Indians that suffered. 2006 gave Fijians our fair dessert,” he said.

Despite living together for more than 150 years, indigenous Fijians and Fijians of Indian heritage continued to live largely separate lives, Nata claimed.

Exceptional situations
Although he admitted that there were examples of strong inter-ethnic relations in certain towns and districts, such as the old capital Levuka, Savusavu, Labasa and Ba, he said these were exceptional situations.

Nata told the commission that politics was not the answer, and that Fiji needed intentional and deliberate collaboration at the community level to bridge the divide.

“There should be a willingness to come together. Our ethnic and collective identity and openness are not necessarily opposing poles. It could be the vehicle to bring us together,” he said.

Nata also warned against becoming trapped in the past, saying ignoring difficult truths would not pave the way for true reconciliation.

He urged all Fijians to confront unresolved issues together to build a brighter future.

“We should revisit, untangle, rebuild and move forward together,” he told the commission.

During the fuel crisis, Pacific Island countries have scrambled to secure their own fuel supply, forcing them to lean on their wealthy neighbours and multilateral donors.

This triggered a region-wide economic slowdown and driven a managed, yet sharp, increase in fuel and electricity costs throughout the Pacific.

According to fuel price schedules released by Pacific governments regularly from February to June, Fiji has doubled the maximum price for diesel in urban centres in the main island, Viti Levu, such as Suva and Nadi.

• READ MORE: Fuel relief efforts, minerals diplomacy and fallout at a publicly funded trust
• Australia extends fuel excise relief to ease household cost pressures
• Other Pacific energy reports

Samoa has lifted its diesel ceiling by more than two thirds during that time, Tonga by more than 60 percent in Tongatapu.

And quite apart from asking for budgetary support, Pacific leaders, whenever they had the chance, appealed for help to build solar panels and other forms of renewable energy, in hopes of sidestepping a future calamity.

February
The war begins.

February 28
Iran begins its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz after taking heavy fire from US and Israeli forces. In the coming days, several Pacific-flagged tankers are trapped, abandoned or damaged, and their crews injured or killed. The Palau-flagged Skylight is abandoned with two crew dead on March 1. The Marshalls-flagged MKD Vyom is abandoned with one death on the same day, and the Safesea Vishnu is set ablaze 10 days later, killing another.

March
It doesn’t take long before the public grows nervous over fuel and electricity price hikes. Pacific governments issue certain reassurances, but panic buying occurs in sporadic cases.

For Pacific Island countries, which are far away from the established oil refineries in Singapore and South Korea, it makes better economic sense to buy from bulk, rather than to have constant shipments. This means they have forward orders already secured.

So most retail prices are kept relatively stable as countries burn through their existing stocks. The import prices are going to go up, but the lag means they can bide their time.

Behind the scenes, governments are scrambling to secure supply from new sources — and to keep the public calm. It isn’t a question of if, but when.

March 15
Christopher Luxon touches down in Samoa. They discuss energy, but New Zealand isn’t committing to anything yet. They have their own crisis brewing. He’ll go to Tonga and say mostly the same thing.

March 23
The American Pacific and the free association states don’t have price ceilings, so their consumers are paying the market rate, plus the elevated travel costs. At a Mobil gas station in Saipan, petrol is US$6.619 per gallon, and diesel $8.789. In Tinian, diesel is $10.

April
Pacific Island countries begin to raise their fuel price ceilings. Vanuatu raises diesel by 64 percent, but won’t raise it further for the indefinite future. In PNG, the price is 73 percent higher, in Fiji it’s 35 percent, and in Tonga it’s 43.5 percent.

April 15
Tuvalu’s Energy Minister Simon Kofe appears on RNZ’s Morning Report and reveals that their fuel supply is “not assured” beyond June. Just days earlier, Tuvalu had declared a state of emergency, allowing the government to take extraordinary measures to cut back on power usage. They’re experiencing rolling blackouts. The country spends more than a quarter of their GDP on petroleum imports.

April 17
In the Marshall Islands, government departments are shutting down at 3pm. They’re using their universal basic income to help consumers and adding a subsidy to their state-owned power company.

Marshall Islands Finance Minister David Paul later reveals to RNZ Pacific that their singular supplier, ExxonMobil, is using force majure provisions in their supply contracts to balloon import prices.

May
Samoa and Solomon Islands both lift their diesel caps by 46 percent. Fiji and the Cook Islands climb as well. Fuel at the pump in Port Moresby is slashed by 42 percent after the government uses its windfall revenue from LNG exports, which have spiked dramatically in value, to subsidise consumer prices. Tonga cuts their electricity surcharge and reinvests more into welfare payments for pensioners. Pacific leaders are meeting.

May 6
Fiji’s Finance Minister defies an international travel ban for ministers to go to Uzbekistan for an Asian Development Bank AGM. He walks away with a US$200 million loan in his pocket.

Meanwhile, Australia hands Fiji A$30 million. Foreign Minister Penny Wong calls it a “targeted budget support” to support Fiji’s efforts to be a regional fuel hub.

At this point, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Southeast Asia, trying to get Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea to give them preference if they have to make tough decisions over their own stocks. Foreign Minister Penny Wong says they will keep the Pacific in mind, but they have to put themselves first.

New Zealand chips in NZ$8 million.

May 8
Pacific Islands Forum leaders officially invoke the Biketawa Declaration. It’s a framework for a regional crisis response, where leaders are compelled to come together, share their resources and expertise, and arrange some kind of plan together. It was last used during covid pandemic.

Jeremiah Manele jumps the gun and says they would, before any Pacific leaders, including Australia or New Zealand, could even consider it.

May 29
ADB Pacific Lead Emma Veve tells RNZ Pacific that help requests from Pacific Island governments have begun only recently. She calls this a credit to their resilience.

Help requests at this point have come from Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa and Nauru. Veve says they have freed up hundreds of millions in both loans and grants. Support for each country will range from $10 million to $100 million, depending on their size.

June
Peace appears on the horizon at the end of the month, but there’s no indication of it. By now Viti Levu’s diesel price ceiling has more than doubled since February. PNG’s fuel subsidy helps for a little while, but this month’s increase has exceeded last month’s decrease, and then some. Nauru and Niue, with their singular islands and tiny populations, have had to increase theirs, too.

June 5
Samoa triggers an “amber alert”, which indicates they have less than 30 days of fuel stocks left in country. They deny this is the case, and just call it a “precautionary measure.”

June 12
Fuel price caps rise in the Cook Islands — diesel in Rarotonga hits NZ$3.84 per litre, and LPG hits $5.06 per kilo. In Aitutaki: diesel is $6.24 per litre. In New Zealand, diesel prices only ever briefly passes $4 in some rural areas.

A Pacific politics expert and ni-Vanuatu woman has become the first woman to be appointed to lead the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat.

Anna Naupa, described by the Vanuatu government as “one of the nation’s finest minds”, is the new director-general of the sub-regional bloc, which is headquartered in Port Vila.

The MSG is made up of Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) of New Caledonia.

• READ MORE: Other MSG reports

In a statement yesterday, Vanuatu’s Office of the Prime Minister said Naupa’s appointment was “a historic moment”.

“Since the MSG was founded in 1986 by the giants of Melanesia — Paias Wingti of Papua New Guinea, Father Walter Lini of Vanuatu, Ezekiel Alebua of Solomon Islands, and our brothers from the FLNKS [Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front] — Vanuatu has waited 40 years to lead this organisation.

“Today, that wait ends,” it said.

It said Naupa’s appointment sends a clear message to every young ni-Vanuatu girl to “aspire for the best, because the highest offices in our region are within your reach”.

Inspiring new generation
Naupa’s leadership will inspire a new generation to dream bigger and serve boldly, it added.

The Vanuatu government said it holds immense confidence in Naupa’s capabilities, leadership, and integrity, and commended the MSG and the selection team for a transparent process “that has delivered the right leader for this moment”.

Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat congratulated Naupa.

“We know the MSG was born from struggle — its heart has always been the political aspirations of the Kanak people and the big issues facing Melanesia,” the Office of the Prime Minister’s statement said.

“Over the years the organisation has grown, expanding its focus to trade, sports, culture, and other areas of common interest that bind our nations. Vanuatu believes the success of the MSG under Dr Naupa’s leadership will depend on never losing sight of that founding spirit — solidarity, justice, and self-determination for our peoples.

“Anna, you carry not just a title, but the hopes of a region. You carry Vanuatu’s pride, Melanesia’s trust, and the spirit of Father Walter Lini’s vision.”

Naupa replaces Papua New Guinea’s Leonard Louma, who was appointed in February 2022 and finished his term in late 2024.

Solomon Islander Ilan Kiloe, who is the political and security affairs programme manager, was acting in the role following Louma’s departure.

The MSG Secretariat has not made any official announcements on Naupa’s appointment.

A human rights activist in Fiji is calling for the joint police-military taskforce on drugs to be disbanded, but the Fijian government says it does not support the call.

It comes as the military revealed more than 60 witnesses have been spoken to in an investigation into the death of Jone Vakarisi, The Fiji Times reported.

Police have classified Vakarisi’s death as murder after the Republic of Fiji Military Forces had initially claimed that the notorious figure known to law enforcement had died of pre-existing conditions.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji police brutality reports

Exactly two months have passed since his death and so far no one has been charged, but the Policing Ministry released a statement over the weekend, saying that the investigation into Vakarisi’s alleged murder was nearing completion.

It is also over a week since another man from a suburb about 15 minutes from the capital Suva, Sakiasi Ose Radravu, passed away following what his family says was a raid.

The raid resulted in an alleged severe beating and torture by police and military officers, which the family alleges led to Radravu’s death weeks later, though police claim a post-mortem links the death to a pre-existing condition.

This raid took place around the same time as Vakarisi’s alleged murder in a military cell. The official Fiji police post-mortem report released on June 6 stated that Radravu’s death was linked to a pre-existing medical condition.

Investigation nearly complete
“The independent investigation into the death of Mr Jone Vakarisi is nearing completion, while investigations into the death of Mr Sakiasi Radravu remain ongoing. These investigations must be allowed to proceed thoroughly, independently, and without prejudice,” Fiji’s Ministry of Policing and Communications said in a statement on Saturday, June 13.

The ministry said the joint police-military operations were making a real difference in disrupting illicit drug networks.

“Government does not support calls to terminate the Joint Police-Military Operations. However, operational success can never excuse human rights violations. Joint operations must continue lawfully, professionally, and with full accountability.”

Four police officers have been placed on leave while eight others are being investigated.

Police also confirmed over the weekend the Radravu family’s allegation that a military officer had instigated the raid.

Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) chief executive Shamima Ali claims that the security forces may be responsible — this year alone — for two deaths and countless more injuries.

“This [is] a historic pattern that is being repeated, whether it’s the police [or] the military,” she told RNZ Pacific.

“We need to know who are the people doing the investigations — we actually call for an independent investigation,” Ali said.

‘Not hard to find out’
“Two people have died, and where and what seems to be quite clear, so it’s not that hard to find out who [the perpetrators] are.”

Last week, Amnesty International also called for the suspension of implicated officers and the dismantling of the joint taskforce.

Ali said as a result of increased military involvement, and a diminishing degree of police transparency, it has become harder to advocate and protect the most vulnerable.

“Even with us at the Crisis Centre, we are having so many difficulties in bringing to light cases of rape, wife assault … [due to] the lack of knowledge, the lack of transparency, and so on.

“If Fiji had a robust, well-trained police force — that is what they are there for — we would not need the military to interfere.”

But unlike in the past, Ali noted the role of social media, where both the Vakarisi and Radravu cases emerged in the public consciousness.

“People are talking a lot more, and people are becoming a lot more aware of when a young, particularly Fijian, is being taken into custody.”

Warning: This story contains detailed accounts of alleged police and military brutality, including torture and sexual assault.

The Fiji Police Force has acknowledged that 12 officers were present during a raid involving Kinoya resident Sakiasi Ose Radravu, who his family claims was severely beaten, resulting in his death.

His family alleges that on the night of April 23, the 32-year-old was “tortured” in his home by both police and military officers — and beaten within an inch of his life.

He died five days ago, on June 4, with police stating that the autopsy report shows the cause of his demise was “a pre-existing medical condition”.

• READ MORE: 12 officers under investigation for Radravu’s death, linked to pre-existing medical condition
• Autopsy reveals cause of death
• Fiji police confirm murder probe launched into death of man in military custody
• Other Fiji police reports

However, Radravu’s aunt Elizabeth Kabuyawa told RNZ Pacific that they are seeking a second autopsy on the body, due to concerns about a possible cover-up.

RNZ Pacific has seen a copy of the death certificate, which lists the main cause of death as sepsis and complications from pneumonia.

“I think they’re [police] trying to masquerade it. They’re not even considering that there was an underlying issue that he’d had from these beatings,” Kabuyawa claimed.

“My nephew was sodomised, his head was stomped on, he was beaten almost to his death.”

Second recent death
This is the second recent death in Suva linked incidents where police and military are alleged to have played a part. Jone Vakarisi — described by local media as a drug lord involved in criminal networks — died in military custody on April 14.

It comes at a time when military officers are patrolling the streets bearing automatic weapons — ostensibly as part of a joint operation with police to crack down on drugs.

Police are also promoting a dob-in website where citizens can be their community’s “eyes and ears” and inform on others.

Kabuyawa said the family is of one mind in seeking answers from the authorities.

“Fiji is not a big place … we just want that faith and that confidence back into our [police] service. We’re hoping that this could be the last time that this type of brutality happens.”

The night
Radravu’s cousin Buna recalled being woken up at 3am on April 23 by a loud banging outside.

When her uncle opened the door, they found a military officer in uniform demanding to see Radravu, who Kabuyawa said they had accused of stealing a laptop.

But they had gone to the wrong house — Radravu and his girlfriend were a few doors down.

“Straight after, he had informed our uncle that there were some soldiers were already present opposite from where we are staying,” Buna said.

“So straight after they had left, my uncle and our cousin, they also went, they wanted to see what would actually happen. So when they went, they saw that they had already surrounded the place.”

They arrived to see the house surrounded by people banging on windows and walking in and out.

“We could hear that our cousin was actually screaming and yelling for his life, but that didn’t actually change any response from them.”

Buna said that Radravu’s girlfriend, who was in the room as he was being beaten, made out that some were in uniform, and some were not.

“[She] came crying home and came to inform the family of what had happened. After they had beaten him up, they had taken him up to the [police] station at Valelevu [a suburb 20 minutes out from the capital Suva].”

The family alleges that Radravu’s visit to the station had never been logged or recorded, and that police had never issued a warrant for a raid on his house.

While police have rejected the family’s version of events, they have now acknowledged that a raid did take place, and that 12 police officers were present.

A June 7 police statement described the conduct as “failure to adhere to processes and procedures”.

“The Fiji Police Force acknowledges that the lack of compliance to due processes continues to exacerbate complaints against police and service,” it said.

The aftermath
More than a month passed between that night and Radravu’s death. His family said he had suffered all of that time, often unable to sit or lie down without intense pain.

“My sister-in-law asked him, ‘Do you want to [go to the hospital], let’s go, let’s go,’ and he refused,” Kabuyawa said.

She described a small number of eventual hospital visits where X-rays came up with nothing, and Radravu was given Panadol [paracetamol].

“For the past couple of weeks, he had check ups, but also with the issues due to space [at the hospital] he checked himself out.”

On June 4, Radravu walked into Wanibokasi Hospital and collapsed. The hospital is about a 35 minute drive from the CBD in Suva.

Within an hour of his death, two police officers arrived at his mother’s house, trying to coax her into agreeing not to carry out a post-mortem on the body, Kabuyawa alleged.

“She refused. A couple days later … the police then started coming to the house … they came in three appearances in one day.”

Kabuyawa has accused the police of using this as an intimidation tactic.

“Out of the blue, a doctor called and stated there will be a post-mortem. When they appeared [at the hospital], there were five carloads of officers that were already there waiting.

“My family was not allowed entry into the room to be near his body.”

Aside from confirming Radravu’s identity, family members were ushered to a waiting area, watching police officers walk in and out of the examination room.

“Then the doctor, with such an arrogant tone, just advised the family without passing the paperwork that [Radravu] had passed away because he had tuberculosis and AIDS,” she claimed.

“My sister-in-law, who is a nurse, and had taken Sakiasi to the doctors a week and a bit ago, she advised him right then that ‘we did his blood work and that all came back clear’. Then the doctor ended up changing his findings, and said he died from pneumonia.”

From the death certificate seen by RNZ Pacific, it is not clear to the family whether complications from the beatings — which they claim went entirely untreated — were considered at all.

Out of frustration, Kabuyawa emailed Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu on Friday, June 5, copying reporters in the communication.

Tudravu replied: “If you want to raise your grievances then address your email to me — I will not action if I’m copied.”

“Please have some respect to the Office of the Police Commissioner.”

‘No official report filed’, police say
Days after Radravu’s death, police said they were conducting an investigation.

“It has been confirmed from the Valelevu Police Station records that Mr Radravu was taken in for questioning on the night of the 23rd of April 2026 in relation to a case of alleged burglary,” a statement noted.

“It has also been confirmed from his family that no official report of an alleged assault was lodged following his arrest.”

Kabuyawa said this was because Radravu feared retribution even to the point where he feared telling a doctor.

The police statement also noted the cause of death had been linked to “a pre-existing medical condition,” which the family has completely rejected.

Meanwhile, the Fiji Sun reported on Tuesday morning that “reliable sources” had told them there was no direct involvement from the joint taskforce operation itself — rather that the 12 police officers were acting alone.

Police Minister Ioane Naivalurua has called for a fair investigation.

“These are abnormal times here in Fiji, and we are addressing the issue head on, no excuses,” he was quoted as saying by local media.

Commissioner Tudravu told RNZ Pacific that they would not answer any questions on the matter until an “internal investigation” had been completed. He offered no timeframe.

The Fiji Military has not responded to RNZ Pacific’s requests for comment.