PRIME MINISTER HON. VOREQE BAINIMARAMA'S SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE BLACK ROCK PEACEKEEPING CAMP

Na Gone Turaga na Taukei Naua;
Na Gone Turga na Tui Sabeto;
Na Gone Turaga na Tui Vuda;
Na Gone Turaga na Tui Nagado;
Na Gone Turaga na Taukei Sawaieke;
The Honourable Speaker of Parliament;
Honourable Cabinet Ministers;
Honourable Senator Zed Seselja – Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific;
The Secretary of the Australian Department of Defence, Greg Moriarty;
The Australian High Commissioner to Fiji, H.E. John Feakes;
Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corp;
Heads of Fiji’s Disciplined Forces;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
 
Bula Vinaka and good morning. 
 
What a day this is for Fiji; for the people and communities that we protect from disasters at home and in the Pacific; and for the cause of peace that we defend around the world.
 
We can see that the Blackrock Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Camp is a world-class hub for Fiji’s security partnerships.
But this Camp is more than its state-of-the-art facilities –– it is a testament to the very best of our national character. Indeed, it is a statement of what Fijians are prepared to give the world.  
 
We are peaceful people. More importantly, we are a people willing to extend our peace-loving nature whenever we are called upon to do so. Not out of self-interest or some misplaced sense of adventurism –– but because it is morally right.
 
That is why we stand ever ready to aid our fellow citizens in the wake of devastating floods and cyclones. That is why we support our Pacific family across the region in their times of need –– both as soldiers and as common citizens. And that is why there is no part of the world our peacekeepers are not prepared to go to guide communities on the difficult path from conflict to peace.

In the Sinai, in the Golan Heights and in Syria. In Timor Leste, Lebanon, Iraq, and South Sudan, our peacekeepers have protected and mended communities torn by conflict. They have fought and bled for the sake of strangers; children, women and men –– virtually all of whom have never been to Fiji, most of whom had never met a Fijian before, but none of whom will forget what Fijians have sacrificed for their safety. And we do not forget them either –– especially not those we have lost. They live with us in our hearts and today I dedicate this facility to them, their families and loved ones, and to all the innocents they protected.
 
To our friends, the Government and the people of Australia, I offer the heartfelt thanks of the Fijian people. The partnership at Blackrock takes our shared commitment to a peaceful and open world to a new level entirely.

Our Governments have embarked on this journey together because we recognize the need for cooperation to confront this century’s challenges. There will be more human conflicts in the years ahead that will require our joint action. Runaway climate change will inflict more famines and droughts across the world that make societies and regions less stable and more prone to violent conflict. Through the training they receive at this world-class facility, our brave women and men will be ready to address these rapidly evolving threats to security.
 
Where peacekeeping operations are required, we will go. And we will go better prepared than ever before to contend with the complexity of cyber warfare, the ferocity of traditional conflict, and the worsening wrath of nature.
 
We will ensure that our forces are professionally equipped to identify and address the extreme vulnerabilities that women and children face across all these theatres of conflict. And we will see more women empowered as soldiers and as leaders in this service to humanity. This is our commitment to our men and women in uniform.  This is our commitment to the United Nations.
 
And we will use our voice to speak for peace with clarity and purpose. At this milestone moment for Fijian peacekeeping, I re-affirm Fiji’s opposition to Russia’s war on Ukraine. The Pacific was united in condemning the invasion at the floor of the UN General Assembly. We remain absolute in our call to end the conflict and a return to diplomacy.
 
Blackrock not only honours our 42-year peacekeeping legacy, it hones the future mission of the RFMF. Most of all, it will ensure that our troops are equipped and trained to respond to the multi-faceted threats produced by the most alarming war we have ever faced –– the climate war that is at our shores and that will only intensify in this century. 
 
I do not need to remind a single soldier here that we face this relentless war in our communities and at our shorelines every day. It is being fought in Bua, in Kadavu, in Vatulele, and in Gau. It is being fought in Lami, in Nadi, Ba, and Lautoka. It is being fought in every home, in every community, and at every meter of shoreline in Fiji and the Pacific. And no force in the world has contended with more of these climate disasters than the RFMF.
 
14 cyclones have struck Fiji since 2016. More than 40 of our communities are at risk of being erased by the rising seas. The banks of our 45 rivers are breaking on a near-monthly basis under the strain of persistently record-breaking rains. In every disaster of every nature, it is you that Fiji calls upon first.  You are the world’s most battle-tested veterans in the climate war upon us.
 
The climate war will not be won with guns, ammo, and artillery. It will be won with seawalls, resilient infrastructure, and cutting-edge technology. It will be won with knowledge –– knowledge of building practices, disaster management, and mitigative measures we can take to cushion the blow of storms and other severe weather.
 
It will be won through facilities such as Blackrock where we will elevate training, preparedness, and response capabilities for both traditional conflict and humanitarian disasters to a world-leading level.
 
The RFMF’s engineering corps have built homes, schools, medical facilities, and other infrastructure. There is more it can do and, indeed, must do. Your Force is reconfiguring its capacity around engineering and humanitarian and disaster response skillsets to make it the premier climate response force in the world. From this operational hub and with the training this Camp provides, your troops will belong in every disaster-related deployment in the region. Whether they are super-storms in Vanuatu, bushfires or floods in Australia, volcanic eruptions in Tonga , or social upheavals in Solomon Islands and Bougainville –– you are who the Pacific calls upon.

You are called upon because no matter how trying the circumstances, our neighbours know that you will not fail them; they trust you will stay with them through to the other side.
 
Through the partnerships that define this project, you will work intimately with our Australian counterparts and with other partners on a day-to-day basis. We will enlist expertise from our development partners, with New Zealand and the US, especially, as opportunities arise.
 
We look forward to building broader partnerships, including among Pacific Island Countries. At this facility, we hope to train security forces from our region – from Tonga to Solomon Islands included –– to join us in building and expanding capabilities.
 
The members of our security forces here today have served across Fiji. You have served in Australia. Your fellow troops are serving together in the Solomon Islands and Tonga today. We cannot predict what future disasters await us –– but we know they will come. And through the training you gain at Blackrock, we know that Fiji will be ready.
 
And while the pride of opening this facility is felt across the Pacific ––no one should be prouder than those who have built Fiji’s peacekeeping legacy through their service in the world’s conflict-ridden regions; those who are retired and those who look down upon us from above. We salute them all today.  To Fijian men and women serving in Iraq, South Sudan, Golan, Sinai –– we miss you and thank you for your courage and pray for God’s grace as you serve the cause of peace. Blessed are our peacemakers.
 
To Fijians across our country, today we strengthen our solemn commitment to your safety. I hope that the values of the soldiers that train here inspire our young to pursue the service of humanity in whatever pursuit they choose. Particularly our young women and girls who belong at the heart of this effort as much as anyone.
 
Vinaka vakalevu. Thank you.
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