NZ Spied on Fiji, Says Wikileaks

By Stanley Simpson

SUVA (Fiji Broadcasting Corporation/Pacific Media Watch): The New Zealand government spied on Fiji before and after the 2006 coup, leaked US documents released by Wikileaks show.

The cables show that NZ used signals intelligence or SIGINT to listen in on phone conversations between Fiji’s military and leadership.

According to NZ media, the US noted in their reports that intelligence provided by NZ was very "helpful" in their analysis of the Fiji situation.

The cable says that then NZ Prime Minister Helen Clarke had realised after the Fiji coup that NZ had become too reliant on Australian intelligence.

However, the cables did not go into detail what information NZ gathered from listening in to communication between Fiji’s leaders.

In December 2008, the Fiji government had released a statement accusing Australia and NZ of spying on Fiji and tapping Fiji government phones.

The NZ government then did not comment on the issue and Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama said Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith did not deny the statement when it was put to him.

ENDS

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