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Fiji

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Overview
More than 140 years ago, a Fijian chief offered to trade the Fiji islands to Great Britain in exchange for paying off his debts to American traders. Several generations later, native Fijians are still paying the price for this mistake. The British brought workers from India by the thousands; workers who stayed to grow sugar and raise families; workers whose descendents eventually outnumbered the indigenous Fijians to the point where they could win elections and take control of the government. This has led to a series of coups d’état, mostly by the Fijian military, in attempts to keep the Indians from controlling Fiji. This, in turn, has led to much criticism from abroad, including from the United States government. 
 
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Basic Information

Lay of the Land:  Fiji is located in the south central Pacific west of Tonga and right astride where the International Date Line is supposed to pass. The Dateline was moved to the east so that all Fijian islands would be on the same day. The group consists of 300 islands, mostly large volcanic and some smaller volcanic and coral atolls. About 100 of the islands are inhabited. 

 
Population: 931,741 (2008 estimate)
 
Religions: Christian 53% (Methodist 34.5%, Roman Catholic 7.2%, Assembly of God 3.8%, Seventh Day Adventist 2.6%, other 4.9%) Hindu 34% (Samatan 25%, Arya Samaj 1.2%, other 7.8%) Muslim 7% (Sunni 4.2%, other 2.8%), other 5.6%, none 0.3%.
 
Ethnic Groups: Fijian 54.8%, Indian 37.4%, Other (European, Chinese, Other Pacific Islander) 7.9%. The island of Rotuma has a Polynesian population and the island of Rabi is populated by Banabans from Kiribati.
 
Languages: Fijian Hindustani, Fijian, English.
 
 
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History
People have been living in Fiji for at least 3,300 years. The islands were settled primarily by Melanesians but with several admixtures of Polynesians from Samoa and Tonga. A few European explorers sighted the islands in the 1600s and 1700s. By the late 1700s Fiji had a ferocious reputation for fighting and cannibalism. Beachcombers did manage to get a foothold, soon followed by traders, plantation owners, and eventually missionaries. With increased contact, cannibalism died out. A large expatriate community developed and plantations of cotton and sugar were established. Sandalwood was discovered and quickly depleted. The sea slug trade was developed and many Fijians worked hot hours for chiefs collecting and drying the reef creatures. The fragmented leadership in the islands, which had no paramount chief, was unstable and irritating for the Europeans living there. 
 
Eventually one chief, Cakabau, convinced the British that he was the chief of all Fiji. In 1864 he offered to cede Fiji to Britain in exchange for paying off his debts to American traders. Britain hesitated. Cakabau tried to form a government and rule the islands, but he didn’t get enough cooperation from the other chiefs. The different expatriates began pestering their home governments to come in and take over Fiji. Finally Britain, concerned about American and French interest in Fiji and encouraged by a large British community in Fiji, picked up the offer. Cakabau signed and Britain persuaded all the main chiefs to sign. Cakabau had his debts paid off and became recognized as the top local leader with Britain supporting him.  The expatriate plantation owners and traders had the stability of a colonial ruler, and Fiji was firmly under the control of Britain. The most important policy of the British during their colonial rule was to bring in thousands of workers from India. The Indians worked in the sugar cane fields, and when their indenture was paid off, most stayed and rented land from Fijians to grow sugar cane. Their population increased rapidly until the point where it was greater than that of the indigenous Fijians. But the two populations and cultures remained distinct and separate, with little mixing between them and almost no mixed marriages. 
           
Fiji became fully independent in 1970. For the first 17 years the new government was stable. In 1987, however, the Indians managed to use their population advantage to elect an Indian-dominated government. The Fijian military, dominated by ethnic Fijians, took over the government in a coup d’etat. It would be the first of many such coups. Indians began emigrating in large numbers. The constitution was changed to prevent Indians from ever gaining control again, but then was changed again to be less restrictive for Indians. When another Indian was elected prime minister, a civilian group staged a coup and threw the Indians out of power in 2000. Another government was elected in 2001 and re-elected in 2006, but a military coup in 2006 removed them from power. The military later turned over power to an interim civilian government, but the security forces are under military control and the interim government is not seen as legitimate. This political instability has greatly hurt Fiji’s world prestige and its economy. Unlike many Pacific island groups, Fiji does have significant resources in agriculture and mining. It also has a solid tourism industry, but visitors are the first to leave when governments are toppled by coups.   
 

 

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History of U.S. Relations with Fiji

The United States had some military outposts on Fiji during World War II and Fijian troops fought alongside the Americans against the Japanese in the Solomon Islands. Since Fiji’s independence, relations with the United States were good up until the 1987 coups. Since then the United States has been critical of Fiji’s military for those coups and the coup in 2006.

 
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Current U.S. Relations with Fiji

In 2006, just prior to the most recent coup, then-U.S. Ambassador David Lyons gave an interview to the Fiji Times in which he criticized the Fiji government for considering amnesty for those involved in the 2000 coup. This angered the Fiji government, which essentially told the United States to mind its own business. Lyons warned that Fiji had developed a coup culture, and democratic government would continue to face difficulties, especially if coup perpetrators suffered no consequences for their actions. Ironically, the Fijian government angry at the United States for such meddling was itself ousted in a military coup in December of 2006. The United States does maintain an embassy in Suva, the capital of Fiji, but does not recognize the current Fijian government, the nominally civilian interim government, as legitimate.

 
 
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Where Does the Money Flow

In 2007 the United States imported goods worth $152,818,000 from Fiji. Some of the main categories were fish and other food products, lumber, and clothing. Also in 2007 the United States exported goods to Fiji worth $29,947,000. The main categories of the exports were tools, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications equipment, machinery, fish, and soybeans. In late 2006 the United States suspended aid to Fiji until such time as a democratically elected government achieves power. The aid request for 2008 was only $370,000 in security assistance. The United States does provide Peace Corps volunteers for Fiji. 

 
 
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Controversies

Trading Human Rights Accusations

In March of 2008 the United States stepped up its criticism of Fiji for human rights violations related to the 2006 coup and the continuation of the interim government. The Fiji Human Rights commission has rejected the criticism, essentially saying the United States has human rights problems of its own and should not be criticizing others. Human rights abuses in Fiji include citizens not being able to change their government peacefully; restrictions on freedom of expression, movement, assembly, and privacy; individuals being arbitrarily detained and abused; warrantless searches; intimidation of the media; and poor prison conditions.
 
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Debate
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Past Ambassadors

David L. Lyon 1/9/03-7/23/05

Ronald McMullen, Charge d’Affairs, 6/01-6/02
Hugh Neighbor, Charge d’Affairs 6/02-1/03
M. Osman Siddique 9/13/99-6/30/01
Don L. Gevirtz 2/2/96-9/28/97
The following officers served as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim:  Michael W. Marine (Mar 1993-Jun 1995) and Bruce N. Gray (Jun-Dec 1995). 
Evelyn Irene Hoopes Teegan 11/21/89-3/5/93
Leonard Rochwarger 3/11/88-8/31/89
Carl Edward Dillery 11/1/84-7/15/87
Fred J. Eckert 2/25/82-5/7/84
William Bodde, Jr. 8/12/80-8/15/81
John P. Condon 4/11/78-7/27/80
Armistead I. Selden, Jr. 4/17/74-4/10/78
Joseph S. Farland nominated 10/11/73, never commissioned, name withdrawn before Senate acted on it.
Kenneth Franzheim II 5/22/72-11/6/72
 
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Fiji's Ambassador to the U.S.
ambassador-image Thompson, Winston

A longtime cabinet minister and diplomat, Winston Thompson came out of retirement in April 2009 to serve as Fiji’s ambassador to the United States. His appointment was announced one week before Fijian President Ratu Josefa Iloilo suspended his nation’s constitution. Thompson has also served as Fiji’s representative to Canada since February 2010.

 
Thompson received his education in Fiji, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and Australia.
 
His government career began in 1962 when he joined Fiji’s Department of Agriculture as an agricultural officer. Eight years later, he became the director of agriculture, serving until 1973.
 
Thompson then became the secretary for agriculture, fisheries and forests.
 
In 1978, he was made the secretary for finance, and five years later, became the secretary for the Public Service Commission.
 
Thompson relocated to New York City in 1985 to serve as Fiji’s representative to the United Nations.
 
After six years at the UN, he returned home to serve as the secretary for tourism, civil aviation and energy for one year.
 
From 1992 to 1994, Thompson was the secretary for the public service.
 
He left government service in 1995 to become chief executive of Telecom Fiji Ltd. During his tenure with the company, which ended with the announcement of his retirement in December 2004, Thompson oversaw the modernization of Fiji’s telecommunication infrastructure.
 
In 2000, questions arose over whether Telecom Fiji had anything to do with the interruption of phone calls between journalists and deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry when the conversations addressed sensitive material. Both the Fiji army and Thompson said publicly that no order was given for the company to monitor the phone calls.
 
Outside of work, Thompson has been the chairman of the Fiji Museum Board of Trustees and of the Fiji Hardwood Corporation.
 
He is married to Queenie Thompson, who is, according to The Washington Diplomat, a “colorful, nonstop storyteller” who enjoys informing others about her homeland’s history and culture. The couple has four children.
 
Biography (Fiji Embassy)
Queen Bee (by Gail Scott, Washington Diplomat)

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Fiji's Embassy Web Site in the U.S.
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US-flag nation-flag U.S. Embassy web site

U.S. Ambassador to Fiji

Reed, Frankie
ambassador-image

Career diplomat Frankie Annette Reed has been chosen to serve as ambassador to the Pacific island nations of Fiji, Tonga, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Nauru. Her Senate confirmation hearing was held on June 29, 2011, and she was confirmed on August 3.

 
A native of Baltimore, Reed holds a BA in journalism from Howard University and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley and was admitted to the California State Bar in 1979. Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 1983, she was a Peace Corps volunteer and a journalist.
 
Reed’s earlier overseas assignments included: political officer in Nairobi, Kenya and Yaoundé, Cameroon; political section chief in Dakar, Senegal, and deputy director in the Office of Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island Affairs.
 
Her early work at the State Department involved being the desk officer in the Bureaus of African Affairs and Western Hemispheric Affairs. 
 
From 1999 to 2002, Reed was deputy chief of mission in Apia, Samoa.
 
She served as deputy chief of mission in Conakry, Guinea from 2003-2005.
 
Reed was the consul general and deputy U.S. observer to the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France from 2005-2008. 
 
She served as a diplomat-in-residence at the University of California, Berkeley, before becoming deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, responsible for relations with Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Island posts.  
 

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Previous U.S. Ambassador to Fiji

McGann, C. Steven
ambassador-image

C. Steven McGann, a longtime member of the Foreign Service whose work has spanned from Africa to South Asia, received his first ambassadorship in being selected to be the United States’ top envoy to Fiji, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Tonga, and Nauru. He assumed his position on October 8, 2008.

 
McGann attended university at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1973. He then pursued graduate studies in comparative government at Cornell University (1975-1978).
 
After joining the Foreign Service, his first overseas posts were in Taiwan, Zaire, South Africa, Australia and Kenya.
 
In 1998 McGann was sent to the U.S. Mission at the United Nations, where he developed and implemented Security Council strategies for Afghanistan, Cyprus, Nagorno-Karabakh and Chechnya, as well as peacekeeping operations in Georgia and Tajikistan.
 
In 2000, McGann was appointed South Asia Bureau Deputy Director for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
 
Three years later he earned a Masters of Science degree from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at the National Defense University.
 
 
In 2007, McGann participated in the Fourth Joint Force Maritime Commander Component Course at the Naval War College.
 
 
McGann and his wife, Bertra, have four sons and a daughter.
 

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