Subject: 'austraLasia' # 375

FIJI: THROUGH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE

Julian Fox

SUVA: 13th July -- We were just threading our way through the mountain pass at Matacula, on a dirt road not engineered for my vehicle, (indeed not engineered at all), when a red pickup hurtled round the corner and forced us off. "Thinks he owns the bloody road" I muttered to the passengers, and then bit my tongue - because that's exactly what the driver thought. Here we were some twenty minutes well into 'rebel' territory in the mountain area of Tailevu, and this was our fourth encounter with rebellious citizens of Fiji stating their claim. 'Matacula' means 'the eye of the needle'. No camels or even rich men around these regions, but I did wonder if the name was symbolic of something that just can't be threaded at the moment. Democracy perhaps? Or just us trying to get to a funeral!

Our cook's husband died on Friday. They come from Tailevu province and he in particular from the remote village of Dranu about two hour's drive from Suva. But to attend the funeral meant travelling through Korovou, a town completely taken over by rebel landowners, who have taken the police and army, along with their weapons, into 'protective' custody.

We met the first of three roadblocks at the little settlement of Waidalice - a truck parked across the road and logs and stolen 'dragon's teeth' from the Police Post. The unsmiling but not hostile band of bandanna-ed youths stopped us and asked what we would be doing on this road. I felt that English might not be the best language to use on this occasion. Almost every Fijian speaks passable English, but Tailevu is 'taukei' or indigenous territory par excellence, and Fijian is all the go here. 'Keitou sa lako i veibulu' I ventured (We are going to a funeral). My grammatical Fijian gives out when it comes to complex verbal transactions, but I needn't have worried this time. Our interrogator was not terribly forthcoming in any language. He did want the car keys which I gave him. He then proceeded to search in the boot and under the bonnet - the latter to peels of laughter from his comrades because he couldn't find the 'hook' to release it. I suppose we could have stored rifles in the boot, but only with great difficulty in the engine! 'Cat-lic?' came the bisyllabic question, after no hostile weapons were found. I nodded in Fijian. How do you nod in Fijian? By not nodding. You lift your eyebrows instead. "O.k. - Lako!" (You get a prize for guessing that one, and one for me too for passing my first real test in the raw so to speak, in Fijian).

There were two more roadblocks after that - similar deal. And we eventually arrived at the funeral. In the end the road itself was more likely to defeat us than its unruly riders. And of course we had to go through it all on the return run.

That may bring you up to speed with what's happening here at the moment. Your media outlets will have told you of the signing of an accord between military and rebels. Rebels in parliament that is. Hostages should be released this week. But the genie is out of the bottle. Every man jack with a grievance is airing it, and revelling in the label 'rebel' and the army are too stretched to be able to cover the outbreaks. Indigenous landowners are simply taking over what they believe is rightfully theirs, blocking entrance and exit to make their point, and keeping the hapless occupants hostage. The tally includes one military barracks, several police posts, one airport with two others under threat, two towns, one (and central) hydro-electric power station. Rumour had it that they would take over the Nausori bridge, 'our' bridge, if you like, the one that leads us to the market and, for that matter, our parish church. But the army are at both ends, which seems to daunt the tryers.

We think this madness will settle down. It's anarchy of a sort, but of a Fijian sort. They are beholden to their local chiefs. Some 100 of these met yesterday in preparation for the Great Council of Chiefs today. Both the 'little' group and the 'great' ones are decent men, and the occasional woman with them. But the traditional and tribal style is not democratic. It would seem that Fiji is destined to be off-side for some time with more than the FIFA and the World Rugby League.