Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-12-14-Speech-4-243"
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"en.20061214.48.4-243"2
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"Mr President, I too believe that we must condemn this coup d’etat, the fourth in twenty years, in a country, a former British colony, that is actually one of the richest and most developed in the South Pacific and that is among those with the most tourism.
Commodore Frank Bainamarama, commander of the Fijian army, deposed the elected prime minister and took power in a blatantly illegal manner. He said that he was taking over President Ratu Josefa Iloilo’s and Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase's powers on a transitional basis with the intention of restoring them in the future, without stipulating when elections would take place.
The situation is clearly complicated, uncertain and worrying. The Secretary-General of the United Nations himself said this clearly a little while ago: he condemned the military coup. I believe that that is precisely what we in this House must do. We must not just condemn the coup, but we must also make an explicit appeal for the release of the prisoners and hostages and demand the restoration of order and the rule of law, which had made it possible for elections to take place in a normal and acceptable fashion within a democratic context.
In addition to that, however, we must also acknowledge the European Union’s responsibility. We have a very strong instrument available to us: the Cotonou Agreement. It is possible for us to use this framework – suspending non-humanitarian aid to Fiji – to apply pressure and achieve a political change in the region, provided that we bear in mind that this must not be to the detriment of humanitarian aid and certain educational projects that are already under way.
I would also like to support the proposed amendment presented by Mr Pflüger, which demands that these measures also help to ensure that the indigenous population of Fiji is not forced to flee and to ensure that any dialogue in the region includes all of the communities currently living in the country."@en1
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