Posted on 11/26/2004 3:20:06 PM PST by naturalman1975
AUCKLAND -- Fiji's battered military is aiming to find redemption amidst the dust and blood of Iraq, hopefully burying their reputation for violence and instability at home.
With Australian Defence Force (ADF) aid, Fiji is to provide a 155-strong military contingent for the United Nations in Iraq ahead of January 30 elections.
The ADF has provided training, transport and -- for the first time since Fiji's 2000 coup -- arms and ammunition.
The Iraq deployment will be a modest operation measured against past missions for the almost 10,000 strong Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF).
It could be a chance for a new beginning. But it will be dangerous.
Last year the UN pulled out of Iraq after a bomb attack on their headquarters killed 22 people, including mission head Sergio Viera de Mello.
The RFMF has a long way to come back -- a fact emphasised by this week's Suva High Court trial of a paramount chief, which heard evidence of the military's self-inflicted wounds from three coups and a mutiny since 1987.
Justice Anthony Gates sent senator Ratu Inoke Takiveikata to jail for life on three counts of inciting a mutiny in 2000 aimed at ousting RFMF head Voreqe Bainimarama.
It was the latest in a still-running legal process following the May 2000 coup in which now jailed traitor George Speight and members of the RFMF's Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit seized the government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, holding them hostage for 56 days.
The RFMF was born during World War II and fought the Japanese in the Solomon Islands campaign -- winning a reputation for their military skills and bravery summed up in a posthumous Victoria Cross for Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu.
Three years ago the RFMF ended a 25-year tour of duty with the UN in Lebanon, a mission that cost 32 soldiers their lives.
The small but potentially extremely dangerous Iraq operation now getting under way puts the RFMF back into the business it once did best.
I wish them the best.
I don't know what happened, the pic showed up on the preview page. Thanks for the assist.
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