The Minister for Defence, National Security and Immigration, Hon. Timoci Natuva this week met with the Assistant Secretary General (ASG) for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), His Excellency Edmond Mulet and ASG His Excellency Dmitry Titov of the Police Division at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Minister Natuva is currently leading the Bi-annual Ministerial Middle-East tour with the Commissioner of Police, Major General Ben Groenewald and the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) Land Force Commander, Colonel Sitiveni Qiliho.
Issues discussed during the meeting focussed on the assurances of Fiji’s commitment to the deployments under the UN banner to various Missions we currently participate in. Lessons learnt was another issue discussed specifically on the incident that occurred in the Golan Heights and the remedies that the RFMF have conducted to avoid the repeat of such an incident(s).
The Hon. Minister also discussed the future prospects of Fiji’s current and future participation in UN Missions and the acknowledgement of the review of the UN structure on deployment that will be an advantage to Fijian peacekeepers once implemented.
A positive factor of the review of the UNDPKO structure is the Nykhat Report which looked at ensuring UN peace operations utilising more flexible solutions and actions to respond to changing needs on the ground.
Also present at the meeting was the Deputy UN Police Advisor, Commissioner Shoaib Dastgir.