Asia Times: Fijian troops soldier on in Lebanon



	Januray 08, 1999	atimes.com

Oceania

Fijian troops soldier on in Lebanon

QANA, Occupied South Lebanon - Christian faith and kava - adrink made from pounded roots and water - may seem to have little in common.

But for the Fijian soldiers serving with the UnitedNations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), sitting in prayer togetheraround a bowl of kava is often what helps them get through their 12-month tours of duty.

The 596-man strong battalion, known in UN parlance as 'Fijibatt',gathers each evening at 6.30 for prayer, while those on patrol or out inobservation posts stop for a few moments of private thought as they looksouthwards over hills where their personal saviour once walked.

Today, over those same hills, come US made artillery shells and clusterbombs, fired by Israeli forces fighting to keep control of this bitterlycontested strip of occupied Lebanon. In return the local Lebaneseresistance forces reply with converted Katyusha rockets salvaged from oldSyrian army ordinance.

The strip was seized in 1978, the same year UN resolution 425 called onthe Israelis to withdraw from the zone; it also brought Unifil and Fijibattto Lebanon. They, the resistance and the Israelis, are still there.

Two decades on, the so-called 'interim' Unifil has fallen in size from7,000 men in 1978 to 4,700 today, and with some Fijians serving up to 12tours of duty in Lebanon, the country has become a second home for many.

''I like being here and until 1987, I often asked to be sent,'' saysSergeant Kelepi Naisaki, who began his ninth tour of duty last June. ''ThenI got married and now, even if I still like coming, I wait to be sent by mysuperiors."

Like many of the Fijians, he has seen children grow up, start businessesand families, maybe leave home and return, and sometimes, take up armsagainst the occupiers.

It is not uncommon for the Fijians to discover that the guerrillas theysee on their way to war are personally known to them. ''Occasionally itmakes it easier to communicate with them and ask them to operate fromsomewhere else, away from the population,'' said Lt. Colonel PhilipoTarakinikini, Fijibatt's commanding officer.

Tarakinikini understands the resistance's motives but cannot close hiseyes to the consequences. Israel responds with massive force whenever theresistance forces go into action.

On Dec. 22, one such Israeli attack killed a woman and her six children,the highest civilian death toll in a single attack in the fighting thisyear. The Tel Aviv government said it was a mistake, but the Lebaneseresistance retaliated, firing a hail of converted rockets over the border,hospitalising 16 people.

Now Israel says it ''must'' retaliate for that attack. Almost unheard,UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has urged ''the parties concerned to putan end to violence and in particular to respect the non-combatant civilians''.

Tarakinikini shares his concern for the innocent. ''As a guerrillafighter you have chosen to fight and maybe die while doing it,'' he says.''Until leaders of the resistance can come to me with a referendum sayingthat more than 95 percent of the villagers have agreed to die along (withthem), I will not put the lives of civilians in danger."

Like many newly independent states that send contingents to UNpeacekeeping forces, Fiji's aim was to be seen to play its part ininternational relations as a modern democratic state.

Twenty years later, with the 'interim' force still in place, the strain isshowing. The logistical cost of maintaining the force is a heavy burden onthe country's 4,000 strong army.

At a personal level the sacrifice is high too. The soldiers are entitledto 30 days leave during their 12-month tours, but home trips to farawayFiji can be hard to fit in.

The US$11 a day UN allowance that the soldiers get on top of theirregular salary counts for something, and the many devout welcome a chanceto visit places in Israel and Palestine where Jesus Christ once lived.Sixty percent are volunteers doing a year's military service specificallyto join Unifil.

But social changes at home - an increasing divorce rate, ethnic upheaval,migration, economic crises and the consequent fragmentation of Fiji'straditional extended families - have made the long separations harder to handle.

''In 1978, ties with the extended family were still very strong,'' saysTarakinikini. ''Wives and children had a lot of support. Although we arestill a very family-oriented society, our families back at home have lessrelatives to count on and our children grow up almost in single parenthomes."

But there is no talk of withdrawing - unlike Norway, which ended itscontribution to Unifil after 20 years in November.

The Fijians certainly brought their own style to the UN mission. One correspondent recalls how the tall, burly Fijians, when confronted bylocals reluctant to be searched, would simply pick up the much smallerLebanese, turn them upside down and gently shake them until the contrabandfell out.

Today Fijian checkpoints are everybody's favourite. The first sight isalways of the broad smile of the soldier who will inevitably greet you witha warm ''Hello, friend''. In the eerie atmosphere of the occupied south, inits deep dark nights and silent hills occasionally echoing with distantshelling and the booms of Israeli warplanes, Fijian smiles can be a relief.

But on April 18, 1996, even the friendly Fijians lost their smile. Thatmonth Israel had launched a furious attack across Lebanon, codenamed'Operation Grapes of Wrath'. They aimed to terrorise the local populaceaway from the border zone, and isolate and destroy the resistance forces.

More than 800 terrified civilians had taken refuge inside the Fijibatt HQat Qana before the Israelis attacked it with heavy artillery. At least 107refugees, including dozens of women and children, were killed and scoresmo>re seriously wounded.