Anxious wait for Fiji peace-keepers held capture in Middle East

Updated September 02, 2014 20:28:00

Forty-five Fijian peace-keepers have been held since last Thursday by an Al Qaeda related group, the Al Nusra Front. Today there was a prayer vigil in Suva for the release of the soldiers, who were captured while taking part in a United Nations peace-keeping mission in the Golan Heights.

Source: PM | Duration: 4min 32sec

Topics: terrorism, foreign-affairs, syrian-arab-republic, fiji


MARK COLVIN: There have been prayer vigils in Fiji as the nation anxiously awaits news of the 45 soldiers kidnapped on a peace-keeping mission in the Middle East.

The soldiers were working for the United Nations in the Golan Heights, much of which Israeli took from Syria in the 1967 war.

A group linked to Al Qaeda called the Al Nusra Front captured the Fijian peace-keepers last Thursday.

Fiji's military chief has admitted he doesn't know where his soldiers are now and their fate is in the hands of UN negotiators.

Simon Santow reports.

SIMON SANTOW: In the South Pacific island nation of Fiji, the Middle East must seem a world away. But over the last few days many Fijians have been pre-occupied with an area known as the Golan Heights. Specifically they are there on a mission to keep the peace in a small part of southern Syria, where there is fighting between Assad government forces and rebels.

More than 500 people packed the Centenary Methodist Church in Suva this afternoon. Reverend Tevita Nawadra Banivanua led the congregation in a prayer vigil.

TEVITA BANIVANUA: It's really a worry for family members and the whole of the Fijian nation, and we are in this prayer vigil today showing that we are one with them, and the prayer vigil today was of all races and religious backgrounds.

SIMON SANTOW: He says family are anxious for answers.

TEVITA BANIVANUA: The difficulty of not knowing - this is the main difficulty that they are facing - whether they're well or not.

SIMON SANTOW: What place does the Fijian Army have in the hearts of Fijians?

TEVITA BANIVANUA: Fiji's a small country, and everybody knows almost everybody else by face, and so they are all aware, and we are related to them somehow and people told us that it's their son and we know who they are talking about.

SIMON SANTOW: In Suva the military is pinning its hopes on the United Nations to negotiate the release of its 45 peace-keepers.

Fiji's military commander is Brigadier General Mosese Tikoitoga.

MOSESE TIKOITOGA: I'm sorry to say at this stage that things have not been better. In fact, the whole of the UN is now under siege from the anti-government armies.

SIMON SANTOW: Filipino troops, part of the same peace-keeping mission, defied orders and managed to escape their captors. The Fijians reportedly surrendered to Al Qaeda linked group, the Al Nusra Front.

In exchange for releasing the 45 Fijian peace-keepers, the kidnappers have made three demands. They want their names removed from a UN terrorist list, they want humanitarian aid, and they want compensation for the loss of three of their group.

MOSESE TIKOITOGA: It is important for us to note that the force commander and his negotiation team are trying to work with the Filipinos and the armies that are attacking the Filipinos to come to some kind of truce, because if it doesn't then it can affect the release or otherwise of our personnel.

However, we have been continuously assured from all our contacts that our men are well. They have been looked after and no harm has come to any of them in any form.

SIMON SANTOW: There was always some anxiety in Fiji about the dangers of this peace-keeping mission but there's also been a great sense of national pride that the country's soldiers can make a lasting contribution to peace in an area with myriad problems.

Methodist church general secretary, Reverend Tevita Nawadra Banivanua.

TEVITA BANIVANUA: We have been proud of the record of our military keeping peace, and of course the police as well all over the world - in the Middle East, in northern Africa, and all the other places that they are in. And we are proud of them being soldiers keeping the peace in the world, but to face such a situation as this, this is the very first time that they have gone through this type of things and it's probably part and parcel of trying to keep the peace. But it's a new thing, it's a new experience for us here in Fiji.

SIMON SANTOW: And an experience the nation, no doubt, is hoping will soon be resolved peacefully and successfully.

MARK COLVIN: Simon Santow.