Fiji Interim Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama. Credit: ABC.

By Rich Bowden

Fiji’s military leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama has used an address to the United Nations to defend a 2006 military coup in which he came to power.

The Commodore said the coup, where he seized political control from a democratically-elected government, was necessary due to the previous administration’s use of terror as a political weapon.

“There have been critics of events in Fiji since December 2006 when the military was forced to remove the government of Fiji,” he said on Saturday.

“I believe that these critics are largely unaware of the extent to which politicians, in league with those who employ terror as a tactic to push the racial supremacy and corrupt agenda, had become a threat to the safety and security of our people,” Radio Australia reported.

However Peceli Kinivuwai, the general secretary of the SDL party, which was removed by Bainimarama’s military in the 2006 coup, said the Commodore’s claims were laughable.

“No-one would be fooled or hoodwinked by that word, they’d be laughing to themselves because he is the one who has instilled terror, he is the one who has instilled guns, he is the one who has removed the democratically elected government by force. It was never done by politicians,” he told Radio New Zealand International.

Kinivuwai said the UN was monitoring the Fijian political situation and would be aware of the political situation in the country.

Bainimarama also used the UN address to lash out at the world body for refusing to include Fiji’s troops in future UN peacekeeping missions. He blamed both Australia and New Zealand for using their influence against Fiji.

“They have used their extensive diplomatic and financial resources, to deny Fiji, to participate in new peacekeeping operations,” he said. “We have not been able to receive a clear, and satisfactory reply on this matter from the United Nations.”

Bainimarama said he was “disappointed” with the decision.

”Fiji has participated in peacekeeping operations since 1978 and is proud of its association with the United Nations,” he said.

”Fiji has been disappointed by what appears to be a unilateral decision on the part of the UN to debar our country from any new peacekeeping operations.”

Tags: Bainimarama, fiji coup, Fiji military, UN