Page 6 - IB AUG 2017

Whispers

t floor.
t There is also word that one senior
Diplomatic whispers Cabinet minister whose star has been in
Leading diplomat AND what’s with the Australian and freefall of late will shortly announce that
FIJIAN diplomat Amena Yauvoli is the New Zealand delegates who refuse he will not stand in the 2018 election.
toast of the regional diplomatic com- to acknowledge the chair of regional
munity. meetings? t
Not only is he Director-General of the At a recent gathering every contributor
Melanesian Spearhead Group, Yauvoli is to the discussion duly acknowledged the Yaqona tests
also Fiji’s climate change expert. chair before addressing the meeting – a A RECENT development in the yaqona
That means he is on loan from the normal procedure even for the simplest industry means that a standard field test
MSG to Fiji as part of regional coop- of club meetings. will soon be able to determine illegal
eration ahead of the COP23 meeting in But over four days of talks the Aus- strains being sold even in powdered
Germany later this year. tralian and New Zealand delegates con- form.
Ironical that Fiji would depend on this sistently ignored protocols. Vanuatu has been cited several times
senior civil servant who was removed at And this from the nations that consis- for selling the two-day variety – kava
the height of the 2006 coup by the man tently lecture the region on best practise. with extremely high toxin levels.
who now cannot do without him. Something is definitely amiss. Also known as non-noble varieties
And, for the record, Yauvoli was It brings to mind this kava produces a hangover which
removed three times by the Fijian Gov- Sir Michael Somare supposedly lasts two days.
ernment and returned each time for love of PNG who once Developed in Vanuatu, the new test
of country. quipped to the late is chemical based and will allow border
Ratu Sir Kamis- control officers to conduct immediate
t ese Mara: You were checks on yaqona and prevent it from
colonised by British being traded internationally.
Missing wallet gentlemen, we were
WHICH regional diplomat had a big colonised by British t
night on the town with colleagues in a convicts.
French territory and lost his belongings Bumpy skies
in the process? t EXPECT some turbulence as Fiji, Kiri-
After kava and cocktails the diplomatic bati and the Solomon Islands argue over
party continued through several clubs Wrong seat new routes opening up.
until the wee hours. AND there was the case of the vice- Fiji’s national airline has long been
The regional diplomat in question was president of the small island state who accused of bullying smaller outfits on
not seen the next day and most assumed was driven to a recent regional meeting routes and fares.
he was a bit worse for wear after paint- with a special car and security detail. Now the Solomons and Kiribati have
ing the town red. After the meet and greet session he worked out a deal for freight and pas-
It later transpired that in the process of was taken for the obligatory photo ses- senger services which will offer an
meeting the locals, the aforementioned sion and seated in a row behind the alternative to flying through Fiji’s Nadi
diplomat had lost his special passport, ambassador of the US and ministers International Airport.
a wallet and other miscellaneous items. from New Zealand and Australia. Word is there are some very unhappy
By the time the faux pas was realised number crunchers at Nadi Airport and
t the vice president – and his delegation – they did not gauge just how unhappy
had left the venue, thoroughly incensed. Kiribati and the Solomons were at be-
Big brother What was most upsetting to observers ing held hostage over air service agree-
THE buzz around a recent regional was that the US, Australia and NZ saw ments.
conference was in how a large donor their representatives as having a higher So what happens next?
country sent its diplomats from the standing than regional heads of state.
capital city rather than those based in A case perhaps of deep pockets but t
the region. not much sense?
One of the capital-based wonder kids France or Pacific
had no idea who to speak to on regional t NOUMEA is so obviously French – the
human rights training and only got to bistros, the pastries, the yacht clubs, the
the relevant desk on the final day to Changing sides salaries.
find that the (Suva-based) expert had WORD is that a senior member of Yet there is an insistence by France
left for home. the (now defunct) National Council for that it is it’s a Pacific nation.
Obviously the word would have gone Building a Better Fiji will join the Na- Not so according to even the young
back to Suva for the country’s represen- tional Federation Party line-up to contest New Caledonians who were on the
tatives – most likely Pacific islanders – to the 2018 elections. fringes of a recent regional conference.
complete the task left incomplete by the The former doctor who served the in- “Do you think we are a Pacific na-
traveller. terim regime with several former senior tion or part of France,” one young New
And it’s not the first time this has civil servants will join a growing list of Caledonian journalist asked two senior
happened. disillusioned post-2006 coup Bainima- members of the profession.
rama supporters who have crossed the Apparently there was a gale of laugh-

6 Islands Business, August 2017