Lt Col Sakiusa Raivoce and BOMB THREATS - Somebody's watching!

A Public forum which included Former PM Laiseania Qarase to be called of because of a "SUSPICIOUS" bomb threat , the second in two days there. Others that were in the meeting included:

• former Supervisor of Elections Semesa Karavaki,


• National Federation Party secretary general Pramod Rae


• Acting leader of the United Peoples Party Mick Beddoes


• former head of mission to China Jerry Waqanisau,


• former high commissioner to Malaysia Adi Samanunu Talakuli,


• former CEO at the Ministry of Reconciliation Apisalome Tudreu,


• former Public Service Commission CEO Anare Jale,


• former CEO for Women Emele Duituturaga,


• former SDL members of Parliament Samisoni Tikoinasau, Ted Young and Adi Sivia Qoro


• and Global Risks Ltd boss Sakiusa Raivoce.

According to sources, it is the participation in the forum of the Lt Col Sakiusa Raivoce that has got alarm bells ringing.

Lt Col Raivoce as is well known to most, is the chief recruiter for a private security company that sends former Fiji soldiers to Iraq as security guards.

Lt Col Raivoce is also infamous for his involvement in sending 9 former Fiji soldiers to Bouganville as mercenaries for Noah Musingku's cargo cult.

Noah Musingku is a self styled cult leader who had promised that large amounts of money was about to arrive in Bouganville to make them all rich, similar to Sakaraia Ve's cult movement of 1999 when a large number of people in Fiji resigned from their jobs to wait for container loads of money at Sakaraia Ve's house in Vatuwaqa.

There are concerns in the security circles that Lt Col Raivoce who is known to have been in contact with another former Army man and charged conspirator in the "assassination conspiracy", Col Jone Baledrokadroka, the brother-in-law of Rt Inoke Takaivekata.

However, not all is well for Lt Col Raivoce. Many former soldiers who have returned for Iraq have return disilliusioned and angry at the conditions that they found in Iraq. What they were promised in Fiji and what the actually found when they got there seemed that they had been serious misled.

Here is an exchange between former soldier Jo Nasilasila and ABC journalist Ross Duncan in which Jo Nasilasila quite angrily tells how he and others were misled in Iraq by Raivoce's company.

Stan Correy: Jo Nasilasila had worked as a UN Peacekeeper in Lebanon, and he was shocked at how different conditions were when he worked for Global Risk Strategies in Iraq. The rules of engagement were different and very difficult.

Jo Nasilasila: We worked on the rules of engagement provided by the coalition provisional authority which was running Iraq then, which was very different from the UN regulations.

Although we were taught to mix before starting operation, the risk was still high. You cannot wait for the bullet to reach you before you fire.

Ross Duncan: Were any Fijians injured or killed in those attacks?

Jo Nasilasila: More of seven of them are still suffering today. Most of them have their waist down not working well from bullets. Some of them have shot their hands from their normal hands which they had before they left Iraq. Some – and the trauma, I believe more than 80% of us we still suffer trauma of Iraq.

Stan Correy: The fuzziness of the rules surrounding the offensive and defensive roles of the private military contractor was a life-threatening problem for Nasilasila and his friends. But he also experienced another common difficulty in working with the modern private military corporation, the sometimes very haphazard nature of the contracts.

Jo Nasilasila: We were told that contracts will be provided when we reach Iraq.

Ross Duncan: And were they?

Jo Nasilasila: After reaching Iraq there was no sign of any contract. It took three weeks for them to finally provide a contract which was not meant for us. The contract was meant for the Nepalese from Kathmandu. The contract was not a proper contract. We've learned from that. If there is a chance to go back I'll probably see that it's signed and conditional before leaving for Iraq.

Ross Duncan: You think everyone was able to read and understand those contracts?

Jo Nasilasila: Yes, most of us didn't want to sign the contract, because it was for the Nepalese themselves said. We stood back and we told officers that we were not going to sign the contract. But they threaten us to sign, because if you won't sign, you'll have to find your own way back home. We had no choice, we had to sign.

Stan Correy: Jo Nasilasila thought he was going to Iraq to do perimeter work, protecting pipelines. He in fact ended up doing the much more dangerous job of working on a convoy truck distributing the new Iraqi currency.

Th anger expressed by Jo Nasilasila is shared by many others who were recruited by Raivoce. Raivoce's company is one of the largest private security firms in Iraq.

Blackwater pays its employees from $800- $1200 USD a day . Global Risks paid the Fijian soldiers something like $200 -$350 Fijian dollars and from that deducted expenses for meals, clothes etc. No wonder Nasilasila and others are unhappy and.......waiting?