KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister Helen Clark has cast doubt on whether New Zealand would continue making its $8.7 million-a-year aid contribution to Fiji if the country has another military coup.
"Obviously it would be under review, and while we would continue to work with community groups it's very difficult to
have a development partnership with a country which doesn't have a proper government," she said yesterday.
Even worse for Fiji would be a likely suspension of European Union financial aid of more than $48 million a year, a figure which is boosted by one-off development projects and by sugar subsidies.
The EU suspended aid after the 2000 coup in Fiji, and it was not restored for nearly four years.
New Zealand effectively halved its aid, which it channelled mainly through non-government groups.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned that Fiji would be asked to withdraw from international peacekeeping operations, to which it now contributes about 1000 soldiers in return for annual payments of at least $12 million.
US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns telephoned Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to tell him of America's opposition to attempts to change Fiji's government.
The US would stop "certain" assistance and might decide to cease other assistance if there was a coup, he said.
Mr Burns told Mr Qarase that the US had told Fiji's military leaders that they were subordinate to the elected government.
In Sydney, Pacific foreign ministers issued a statement expressing their firm support for the "democratically elected" government of Fiji and its right to govern within Fiji's constitution and the rule of law.
They urged Fiji's military to reconsider its stance and maintain respect for the rule of law and the constitution and said differences between the parties should be resolved by negotiation.
They decided to convene an eminent persons' group to visit Fiji to meet all the parties to the impasse and try to reach a solution.
Helen Clark said the consequences of a coup would be "very dire" for Fiji, and she could not understand why military chief Commodore Frank Bainimarama wanted to destroy his reputation by becoming "the man who took Fiji down again".
"If you take, for example, the European Union, which is the major donor in the South Pacific, it is very committed to good governance as part of the whole package with aid," she said.
"Good governance does not include military dictatorships.
"We are calling on the Fiji elites who have influence to make it very clear to Mr Bainimarama that in no sense are they giving him any support or comfort for this move, because of the damage it will do to Fiji, its broader economy, its reputation and substantial support from developed countries."
Helen Clark said a military coup would be in defiance of a UN Security Council statement of "absolute alarm" and warned that a loss of payments to Fiji for international peacekeeping would prove costly.
"The Fiji military exists largely because the UN pays a lot of bills for it, so that could be a serious matter."
She said Commodore Bainimarama gained kudos for his strong resistance to the 2000 coup - resistance which provoked an assassination attempt on him - and it seemed that reason had "flown out the window" in his persistence with a military takeover of a government which was prepared to engage constructively with him.
"This doesn't make sense and we say to him, 'There is still time to restore your reputation, engage with the [Fiji] Government, as you strongly implied you would at the meeting at Government House in Wellington'."
WHAT'S AT STAKE
Annual aid to Fiji:
European Union $48.3m
Australia $39m
New Zealand $8.7m
Total $96m
United Nations peacekeeping payments: $12m to $20m
