Australia and New Zealand issues travel advisories for Tonga

The Australian Federal Government and the New Zealand Government both today issued overall increased level of advice travel advisories to nationals of both countries regarding exercising a high degree of caution in Tonga.

The advisories have been issued as a result of the risk of politically-related violence, with politically-related violence breaking out yesterday in Nuku’alofa, in parts of the central business district, with many buildings and shops  reportedly having been set on fire

Reports also say that Tonga’s royal and noble dominated Government has apparently given into rioters intent on destroying the capital Nuku’alofa, announcing that the Parliament will in future be democratically elected.

However, large parts of Nuku’alofa were ablaze after drunken youths set alight to key parts of the town which are linked to the new administration of King George V and his unelected Prime Minister Feleti Saveli.

Unconfirmed reports also say a state of emergency was declared and Nuku’alofa declared off limits.

Akilisi Pohiva, founder and veteran leader of the pro democracy movement in the kingdom of 110,000, last night went on radio to announce the “struggle has been won” and appealed to rioters to refrain from causing further damage.  Another commoner politician, Isi Pulu, also called for the looters and drunk rioters to be restrained from causing further damage, with commoner politician and former Police Minister Clive Edwards also voiced the same concerns.

As the trouble continued, the Kingdom appears to have been on the verge of violent revolution for some time but love and respect for King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV kept it under control.  His death two months ago, meant he was succeeded by his son, King George who has made little secret of his contempt for ordinary Tongans, while making a personal fortune by taking control of once state owned electricity and phone companies.

King George’s whereabouts are not known but his extravagant residency, outside the capital, is likely to be well protected by the kingdom’s Tonga Defence Force which is largely a palace guard.

This is the latest in a series of South Pacific crises with earlier this month Fiji teetering on a coup while the Solomon Islands was caught up in a prostitution row involving intervention forces, Papua New Guinea is in a stand off with Australia and riots have affecting Papeete in French Polynesia.

Reports from Nuku’alofa made it clear that rioters who were looting and burning were targeting property linked to the King George’s company Shoreline and the Pacific Royale Hotel owned by his business associates, the so-called ‘Indian Princes’ Sefo and Soane Ramanlal, who now live in Auckland, with shoreline offices and the hotel destroyed by rioters according to the Matangi Tonga website.

The royal appointed Prime Minister Feleti Seveli has also been targeted with a supermarket he owned trashed, with Tonga having been tightly controlled by a royal and noble elite in which the 100,000 commoners are known as ‘dirt eaters’, and a decade old pro-democracy movement calling for direct representation of the Prime Minister and Cabinet which King Taufa’ahau had resisted it until his death.

DFAT in Australia says that the security situation is uncertain and could deteriorate further without warning and Australians could be caught up in violence directed at others, advising that Australians should avoid large public gatherings and protests because of the risk of disturbances arising from ongoing protests about political change.

It also advises that Australians in Nuku’alofa should stay indoors, avoid government buildings and monitor the media and other local information sources for information about safety or security risks and to follow the instructions of security personnel.

In addition people travelling to Tonga are being warned their safety could be at risk.

NZ’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson, Helene Tunnah says the Ministry is in contact with Tonga with information on the situation is still coming in, adding that Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who is at the APEC meeting in Hanoi, has been briefed as about 600 New Zealand residents live in Tonga.

Report by The Mole