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Prime Minister John Key speaks at a press conference - Source: ONE News -
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New Zealand is unlikely to be asked to send troops to Fiji, Prime Minister John Key says.
He raised the possibility of sending troops during an interview on Monday morning but in the evening was dampening down any expectation of troop involvement, saying while he had said it was possible he did not think it would be required.
"Of course New Zealand could always be asked by a multilateral agency like the United Nations to do that. That was the case in East Timor. I am not anticipating that but that would be the sort of circumstance."
New Zealand would not act in isolation, he said.
Key disagreed that mentioning the possibility of troops could fuel antagonism with the regime as he had simply given a hypothetical example and could not control how it was reported.
"There's always a situation where it's possible but it's not likely."
The loss of Fiji's constitution, media freedom, judicial system and freefalling economy was tragic, he said.
"I can't see how any of that can be of any good to the people of Fiji."
Key said he understood the present situation in Fiji was is stable.
"My understanding is that it's stable. We think people should be cautious in their travel arrangements to Fiji but at this point it's stable."
Foreign Minister Murray McCully said on Sunday the government was considering strengthening sanctions against Fiji but would not impose tourism and trade restrictions.
"Sacking the judges, clamping down on personal freedoms, media freedoms, it doesn't get much worse than that," he said.
"That's a traditional mould for a military dictator and it hasn't had a happy ending anywhere in the world."
Fiji's President Ratu Iloilo scrapped Fiji's constitution and fired the judiciary earlier this month after three Appeal Court judges ruled the military takeover in 2006 was illegal.
Self-appointed Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama was re-appointed prime minister and immediately issued decrees which included media censorship and immunity from prosecution for soldiers.
His explanation has been that he won't hold elections until reforms have been implemented to change the system, and the timeline has been extended to 2014.
