Ana Tudrau-Tamani – AHN Fiji Correspondent Suva, Fiji (AHN) – Australia’s travel bans on members of the Fiji government and their immediate families have had no effect and should be loosened. That’s the view of Richard Herr, deputy director of the Center for International and Regional Affairs at the University of Fiji. The use of military officers in the public service has been partially dictated by the travel sanctions. Civilians have been unwilling to accept these positions because of the travel bans, Herr says in a 16-page report published in January by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The bans “have reinforced, perhaps somewhat unfairly, the impression of an excessively military dominated regime,” said Herr, who has served as a consultant to several South Pacific governments. Herr noted that in contrast with previous coups, whichaided and abetted by politically experienced elites, the December 2006 coup by Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama had to rely on less experienced and less politically connected civilian support.

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Australian Sanctions on Fiji Travel Not Working: Academic