The reverberations from the war in Iraq have been felt worldwide- and in regions far distant from the Middle East. A whole industry has grown up, in which private military and security corporations plug the gaps that the armed forces of the US and Britain cannot fill, providing back-up services, security and logistics. The Pacific nation of Fiji, with its highly regarded military tradition, has proved a fertile recruiting ground for such companies. High unemployment and lack of opportunity in Fiji has meant that Fijians are serving- and suffering casualties-in Iraq in increasing numbers. Moreover, this trend to outsourcing core national government functions of defence and security has boomeranged back on the Pacific nations themselves, potentially adding to destabilisation and insecurity in the region.
and David Isenberg , ‘The good, the bad and the unknown: PMCs in Iraq’ , presentation at ‘Guns ’n’ Gates: the role of private security actors in armed violence’, Bonn, Germany, 9-10 February 2006.
2.
Skylink Air and Logistics Support (USA) Inc website, <http://www.skylinkusa.net/>.
3.
see also Ifereimi Nadore , ‘Fiji guards die in Iraq-pray for me, says dad before dying’ , Fiji Sun (26 April 2005).
4.
For Blackwater’s reaction to the helicopter attack, see Ann Scott Tyson , ‘Private security workers living on edge in Iraq-downing of helicopter shows heightened risks’ , Washington Post (23 April 2005), p. A01-A01 .
5.
US embassy media release, Suva (April 2005).
6.
‘Wrong body sent to Fiji in Iraq snafu’ , Fiji Live (2 May 2005).
7.
Details for casualties amongst private contractors in Iraq can be found at <http://icasualties.org/oif/Civ.aspx>.
8.
For discussion, see Nic Maclellan and Peter Mares , ‘Remittances and labour mobility in the Pacific’, Working Paper April 2006, Pacific Labour and Australian Horticulture project, Swinburne University , <http://www.sisr.net/cag/projects/pacific.htm>.
9.
Makareta Komai : ‘Rebuilding Iraq’ , Islands Business (December 2004).
10.
‘Worker exodus a drain on Fiji manpower’ , Fiji Times (19 January 2005).
11.
‘Iraq guards come home to pay battle’ , Fiji Times (20 January 2004).
12.
‘Fiji guards enjoy rebuilding work’ , Fiji Times (5 February 2005).
13.
The Israeli attack on the Fijian camp was deliberate, or as the UN Secretary General diplomatically wrote to the UN Security Council at the time: ‘while the possibility cannot be ruled out completely, the pattern of impacts in the Qana area makes it unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of technical and/or procedural errors’. Letter from UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali to the President of the UN Security Council, UN document S/1996/337 (7 May 1996).
14.
Saula Tuikoro of Sabre International Fiji, quoted in ‘Demobilised Fiji troops pose employment problem’ , Fiji Live (16 February 2006).
15.
‘Overseas opportunities thin Fiji military ranks’ , Fiji Live (12 March 2006).
16.
From a 2004 US State Department list of security companies operating in Iraq, republished on <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2004/iraq_securitycompanies.htm>.
17.
Ibid.
18.
‘New British security firm hiring in Fiji’ , Fiji Times (21 March 2005).
19.
‘Fiji mercenaries earn $3 million in Iraq’ , Fiji Times (13 April 2005).
20.
‘Officers reveal Iraq woes’ , Fiji Times (7 July 2005).
21.
‘Fiji government orders probe of recruiting firm’ , Fiji Live (12 May 2005).
22.
Samisoni Pareti : ‘Fiji’s long, risky road to Kuwait’ , Islands Business (April 2005).
23.
‘Duped job seekers deserve justice’ Editorial , Fiji Times (7 February 2006).
24.
‘Lolohea cannot be investigated’ , Fiji Live (16 March 2006).
25.
‘Fiji mercenaries to sue British firm for Back wages’ , RNZI News (24 February 2004).
26.
‘Iraq blast haunts Fiji contract worker’ , Fiji Times (1 May 2005).
27.
‘Kuwait and Iraq workers are insured-Zinck’ , Fiji government press release (19 April 2005).
28.
Reverend Akuila Yabaki : ‘Death of two Fiji soldiers in Iraq’ , CCF press release (3 May 2004).
29.
‘Beware the danger of mercenary duty in Iraq’, editorial , Fiji Sun (10 February 2004).
30.
‘Fiji’s PM urges former soldiers to resist working in Iraq’ , Radio Australia News (13 June 2006).
31.
News Briefs, Fiji Government Online (10 July 2006).
32.
‘Fiji’s ’unsung heroes’ of UK army’ , BBC News Online (9 November 2004).
33.
Figures in RFMF Army News (December 2004).
34.
The other country to send troops for UNAMI is Georgia, which has sent 500 troops of its 3rd Shavnabada Battalion.
35.
‘1FIR takes over the UNAMI headquarters’ , RFMF Army News (December 2004). The other deployments were delayed in mid-2005 because the RFMF did not have the necessary funding to purchase protective gear for its soldiers.
36.
‘It’s like living in jail’ , Fiji Times (9 May 2005).
37.
Sinclair Dinnen , Anthony Regan and Ron May (eds), Challenging the State: the Sandline Affair in PNG, NCDS Pacific Policy Paper No. 30 ( Canberra, ANU , 1998).
38.
Sean Dorney , The Sandline Affair ( Sydney, ABC , 1998).
39.
Mary-Louise O’Callaghan , Enemies Within ( Sydney, Doubleday ,1999).
Sinclair Dinnen, Law and Order in a Weak State: crime and politics in Papua New Guinea (Adelaide, Crawford House, 2001). DSL was taken over by ArmorGroup in 1997.
42.
Ibid., p. 137.
43.
A detailed description of the events in Bougainville can be found on the Wikipedia website at <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fijian_mercenaries_in_Bougainville>.
44.
‘Mercenaries may have link to 2000 Fiji coup’ , Fiji Live (17 November 2005).
45.
‘Ligairi had joined the British Army in the early 1960s and seen service in Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Kenya and Oman as a member of the Special Air Service. He retired to Fiji in 1984 where some three years later he became founding commander of the 70-man anti-terrorist Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit established by Fiji’s former strongman Sitiveni Rabuka, as a palace guard to protect his 1987 coups.’ Robbie Robertson and William Sutherland, Government by the Gun: the unfinished business of Fiji’s 2000 coup (Leichhardt, Pluto, 2001).
46.
Nic Maclellan , ‘Pacific Islanders join global protests against the war’ , Pacific News Bulletin (Vol.18, no.2, February 2003), p. 1-1 .
