Govt wants 300 names on Fiji blacklist

By VERNON SMALL

The Government is planning to extend its list of banned Fijians to 300 people associated with the Speight coup and their families.

Originally, 85 people were listed as prohibited migrants, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is looking at extending that to more than 300.

While the Government has not released the list, the names of coup leader George Speight, his head of security, Vilimoni Tikotani, and the tactical mastermind of the coup, Ilisoni Ligairi, are almost certainly at the top.

A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said the list would be given to other countries who wanted to take similar action.

Mr Goff said immediate members of the prohibited people's families would also be affected.

Children of those on the list would not be eligible for Official Development Assistance study grants in New Zealand.

"Now that is a little tough, but it is a sign that if people overthrow an elected democracy then there will be costs that they and their family will bear directly," Mr Goff said.

It would be counterproductive to impose other sanctions now if Speight and his supporters were not part of the new regime, due to be announced tomorrow.

As well as the list of banned Fijians, New Zealand had already applied sanctions in the defence area, with the suspension of ship visits to Fiji and a freeze on senior-officer visits. Exercises, planning and training deployments in Fiji had been cancelled and no candidates were being sought for the mutual assistance programme for Fijian defence personnel.

The defence sanctions could be changed if the incoming Administration set a clear timetable for the re-establishment of democracy, Mr Goff said.

Aid to Fiji had effectively been halved from $5 million to $2.5 million.

Existing education programmes would be frozen, meaning students already here could complete their courses, but no new students would be taken under Government-sponsored programmes. The Government spent $1.1 million on study awards to Fijian students last year.

The Australian cabinet will meet today to consider measures against Fiji. They are likely to include the suspension or downgrading of military and sporting links. Trade and economic sanctions are unlikely to be imposed because of Canberra's reluctance to cripple the country.

More Fiji coup coverage

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The hostages

Under seige: map of the Parliament complex

Fiji facts and figures

Images of the coup - a daily record