More than 50 people have been arrested in a Fijian government crackdown on sedition with Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama vowing to crush any attempt at insurrection.
The arrests over the past month follow claims of military-style training in Ra Province linked to attempts to establish a breakaway state on the main island of Viti Levu.
The Fijian Department of Public Prosecutions lists 40 people charged with seditious acts in the past month, with various media reports saying a further 16 to 18 were due in court yesterday.
Bainimarama, who seized power in a 2006 coup, warned he will not tolerate any instability in the Pacific nation.
“We will not and should not tolerate the kind of instability certain people are currently trying to provoke. Put simply, any insurrection will be crushed,” Bainimarama added.
Authorities believe a former British army officer has been secretly running military-style training camps in several villages as part of a plot to form a breakaway Christian state. The veteran has not been identified, but is believed to be a Fijian national who previously served in the British army.
Police Commissioner Ben Groenewald said reports that firearms were involved in the alleged training camps had not been substantiated.
Private ownership of firearms is illegal in the South Pacific nation, which has experienced four coups in the past 28 years.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese