Issue No: 382 16 January 2001
Lt. Col. Filipo Tarakinikini has still not departed for the US to supposingly take up a job with the UN as a UN
peacekeeping office's security planner and advisor. He was to have started on 15 January 2001.
According to media reports, the military has released Tarakinikini for a year but the holdup is with the Ministry of
Home Affairs which is not releasing him. It is understood that Tarakinikini is still being investigated for his role in
the 19 May terrorist activities and the 2 November failed mutiny and attempted coup. One media even reported that the
Tarakinikini posting was sabotaged by senior civil servants who had written to the UN about his involvement with the
political upheaval in the country.
Meanwhile, the media also quotes a UN's Department of Peace-keeping official, David Wimhurst as saying that no final
decision has been made on the post.
END 16 January 2001