The Government is planning to extend its list of banned Fijians to 300
people associated with the Speight coup and their families.
Originally, 85 people were listed as prohibited migrants, but the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs is looking at extending that to more than
300.
While the Government has not released the list, the names of coup
leader George Speight, his head of security, Vilimoni Tikotani, and the
tactical mastermind of the coup, Ilisoni Ligairi, are almost certainly at
the top.
A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said the list would
be given to other countries who wanted to take similar action.
Mr Goff said immediate members of the prohibited people's families
would also be affected.
Children of those on the list would not be eligible for Official
Development Assistance study grants in New Zealand.
"Now that is a little tough, but it is a sign that if people overthrow
an
elected democracy then there will be costs that they and their family
will bear directly," Mr Goff said.
It would be counterproductive to impose other sanctions now if
Speight and his supporters were not part of the new regime, due to
be announced tomorrow.
As well as the list of banned Fijians, New Zealand had already applied
sanctions in the defence area, with the suspension of ship visits to Fiji
and a freeze on senior-officer visits. Exercises, planning and training
deployments in Fiji had been cancelled and no candidates were being
sought for the mutual assistance programme for Fijian defence
personnel.
The defence sanctions could be changed if the incoming
Administration set a clear timetable for the re-establishment of
democracy, Mr Goff said.
Aid to Fiji had effectively been halved from $5 million to $2.5 million.
Existing education programmes would be frozen, meaning students
already here could complete their courses, but no new students would
be taken under Government-sponsored programmes. The
Government spent $1.1 million on study awards to Fijian students last
year.
The Australian cabinet will meet today to consider measures against
Fiji. They are likely to include the suspension or downgrading of
military and sporting links. Trade and economic sanctions are unlikely
to be imposed because of Canberra's reluctance to cripple the
country.
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