Fiji: nothing has changed

Last week, Fiji's military regime officially ended its six-month long state of emergency. This was expected to see an end to military involvement in law enforcement and their habit of taking people to the barracks for "questioning" (torture). Unfortunately, as the Fiji Sun reports, nothing has changed:

Villagers yesterday told how armed soldiers came at night and took them to a spot where they were forced to crawl on thorny bushes for hours.

And the men of Naqia Village in Wainibuka, Tailevu, said the soldiers tried to take the wives of men they could not find in the village. “The women were ordered on to a truck and only released when their children came crying after them,” said one of the 11 villagers that was taken by the soldiers, Lekima Koro.

[...]

He said when the truck reached the Nayavu Bridge they were told to crawl on their elbows down to the river bank and around thorny bushes.

“As we crawled on our elbows on the thorny bushes, we suffered cuts and scratches on our elbows and stomach. The soldiers told us to take off our clothes and repeat that,” he said.

Mr Koro said the soldiers then forced them to swim in the cold river and go under whenever they were ordered. “On of us did not want to go under the water because of the cold and one of the soldiers threw a stone at him,” he said.

“Once we were put inside the truck, we were warned not to say any word or try to escape or we would face the butt of the gun,” he said.

He said soldiers also used wooden rods to beat them and kicked them while they were crawling around.

And given the military spokesperson's dismissive response, this abuse is considered entirely acceptable. if anyone is looking for a reason to exclude the Fijian military from UN peacekeeping, that's one there: because as an institution they clearly have an unacceptable attitude towards violence against the civilian population.

(Hat tip: Hyde n Ceek)