Rudd 'not the UN': Bainimarama

Fairfax Media

TALKING TOUGH: Voreqe Bainimarama says Kevin Rudd should mind his own business.

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Fiji's military ruler Voreqe Bainimarama has hit out at a claim by Kevin Rudd that the United Nations will stop hiring Fijian peacekeepers, saying the Australian leader should mind his own business.

The troubled Pacific nation's military commander was angered by Mr Rudd's statement on Tuesday that Fiji would no longer be considered for United Nations peacekeeping duties.

Cutting deployment of Fijian troops on UN peacekeeping duties would limit revenue flows into the coffers of the country's undemocratic regime, in power since a December 2006 coup.

But Bainimarama questioned the Australian prime minister's right to make such a statement, saying: "Kevin Rudd is not the United Nations."

"Until they (the UN) come out with a statement along this line, I don't think we should listen to Kevin Rudd," the leader told the Fijian Broadcasting Corporation.

"At any rate, if he does come out with that kind of statement, what good does it do to the ordinary, average Australian?

"Is it going to help improve the lives of the Aborigines in Australia?"

Mr Rudd told a press conference on Tuesday that the UN had decided not to employ Fijian troops on new contracts.

"Through our own interventions with the United Nations and supported by New Zealand and other countries, the United Nations now is not going to engage future or new Fijian troops for new operations," Mr Rudd said.

The UN itself is yet to make a statement on Fiji troop recruitment.

It has come under increasing pressure to curtail its use of Fijian soldiers at a time when world leaders are calling for Bainimarama to end his rule and hold democratic elections.

New Zealand's foreign minister Murray McCully called the UN "utterly hypocritical" and several high-profile commentators have urged the organisation to cut ties with Fiji.

The situation has deteriorated further in the past month, with the sacking of Fiji's judiciary, media sanctions, abrogation of the constitution and further election delays.

Mr Rudd and his Papua New Guinea counterpart Sir Michael Somare this week reaffirmed their hardline approach to Fiji and expectations that the country will be suspended from the regional Pacific Islands Forum for failing to announce an election date by May 1.

However, Fiji's interim attorney-general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, told journalists he did not believe Fiji would be suspended.

- AAP