SUVA: Fiji expelled Australia`s top diplomat Tuesday as Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama accused Australia and New Zealand of plotting to embarrass the Pacific island nation.
The expulsion came hours after the five-member Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) cancelled this month`s summit in Fiji over concerns about democracy and "good governance" in the military-run country.
The "potential long-term ramifications of allowing Fiji to chair the MSG this time cannot be ignored," group chairman and Vanuatu Prime Minister Edward Natapei said in a statement.
Canberra had lobbied for the summit to be postponed, and a Fiji government statement said the expulsion of acting high commissioner Sarah Roberts was a direct result of "interfering with the internal affairs of Fiji and conducting unfriendly acts."
Australia and New Zealand have been among the harshest critics of Fiji since Bainimarama led a bloodless coup in 2006 and later put back a return to democratic elections from 2009 to 2014.
Bainimarama, speaking from South Korea, was quoted by the Fiji Sun as saying the summit cancellation was a threat to the future of the MSG, the only major regional group from which Australia and New Zealand were excluded.
"I`m disappointed," Bainimarama said, claiming Natapei was pressured by Australia and New Zealand.
"Australia and New Zealand are trying to embarrass Fiji by dissolving the MSG. If there is no MSG then MSG leaders will be reluctant to come forward and discuss their issues and problems."
Roberts is the second senior Australian diplomat to be expelled from Fiji in less than a year after the high commissioner and his New Zealand counterpart were removed last November over alleged interference in Fiji`s judiciary.
The removal of Roberts is "unjustified and unjustifiable and it`s deeply disappointing," Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully rejected any suggestion that Australian and New Zealand pressure was the reason for the collapse of the summit.
"It is deeply insulting to Vanuatu Prime Minister Natapei," McCully said.
"Prime Minister Natapei needed no help from New Zealand or Australia to work out that democratic principles should prevail within the region."
Fiji Foreign Minister Inoke Kubuabolo accused Australia of undermining Fiji`s sovereignty and weakening its economy.
"The MSG leaders` summit and associated meetings are very important to Fiji and the Pacific countries given the opportunity it presents to expand ties in trade, tourism and peoples` exchange."
Kubuabola said Fiji was being subjected to "undue pressure and frustrated in its efforts by the use of economic, financial and political clout of Australia."
Since the 2006 coup, Fiji has been suspended from the Commonwealth and the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum and has been hit with sanctions by the European Union and countries including the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
However, Smith said Canberra would not react to the latest move by expelling Fiji`s sole diplomat in Australia.
BDST: 0917 HRS, July 13, 2010
