In an eerie echo of last months raids against Maori, greens, and peace activists, Fiji's military regime is banging its own "anti-terror" drum, arresting people across the country and alleging that they are part of a grand plot to assassinate dictator Voreqe Bainimarama, backed by "foreign powers" funnelling assistance through NGOs (which means human rights groups). So far 15 people are in custody, and one of them - New Zealander Ballu Khan has been so severely beaten that he has been hospitalised. Those arrested include businessmen, chiefs, politicians, opposition party leaders, and human rights activists, but it basically reads like a laundry list of those the regime has a grudge against. Khan, for example, was threatened by the military long before the coup because he was employing former Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit members as bodyguards. Ratu Inoke Takiveikata was deemed by them to be involved in the barracks mutiny of 2000, though his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal. Former Land Force Commander Jone Baledrokadroka, Takiveikata's brother-in-law and formerly Bainimarama's second in command, was dismissed from the military in 2006 rather than obey an order that he regarded as treasonous. While these people could conceivably have been plotting something, the reaction in Fiji seems to be one of disbelief and suspicion, combined with outrage at another incident of military brutality. Some groups have openly called it a diversion aimed at preventing elections scheduled for 2009.
Fiji at least still has a nominally independent judiciary, despite the changes the military have made since the coup, so the army will have to put their evidence before a court. And it will be very interesting to see whether they actually have anything to sustain their allegations, or whether they are simply settling scores and trying to silence their opponents again.
