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MILITARY ENLISTS ‘CON MAN’S’ HELP AS INFORMANT

SUVA. Fiji (Fiji Times, Dec. 29) – Australian conman Peter Foster has joined the military's "clean-up campaign" to help rid Fiji of corruption.

Foster, jailed in three continents for fraud, is under police and military guard at JJ's on the Park after spending most of yesterday at Queen Elizabeth Barracks, telling all he knows about corruption within the SDL party.

His "evidence" is likely to be part of a brief to be made public by self-appointed president and leader of the December 5 coup, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, on New Year's Day.

Foster has been banned by the army from talking publicly, but in earlier interviews claimed to have been working undercover, securing evidence of corruption.

"I've been wearing a wire and recording conversations with corrupt ministers," he said at that time.

"Some of the corruption is amazing and some of the vote-rigging from the last election goes so deep it's...

SYDNEY, Australia (Australian Broadcasting Corp, Dec. 28) - The Federal Government is suspending all funding for Fiji's military involvement in the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands.

Prime Minister John Howard says the decision is a direct response to Fiji's recent coup.

"This is a consequence of the Fijian military overthrowing a lawfully elected government," he said. "The military Government in Fiji must understand that there are consequences for what it did."

The move means Fiji will not be able to take the lead role in the mission next year, as it was scheduled to do under a rotation system.

Mr. Howard says sanctions have already been implemented against Fiji's new regime, including prohibition on travel and suspension from the Commonwealth.

"Unless the world and, in particular, close friends and partners like Australia demonstrate their displeasure, then the regime will imagine that it's been a costless exercise," he said....