Qatar will be soon become a safe haven for Fijian troops on peacekeeping duties in the potentially volatile Middle East.

This was confirmed by the Minister for Defence, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola while responding to a question by Social Democratic Liberal Party Opposition MP Viliame Gavoka in Parliament yesterday.

Ratu Inoke said they have had talks with the Qatar Defence Minister and made plans for an agreement to be signed for our troops to use Qatar as a safe haven if needed.

Mr Gavoka said when the issue of Fijian troops was brought to Parliament it reminded him of the 2014 incident when more than 40 Fijian troops were held hostage in the Middle East.

He said it was important that we aligned ourselves to countries that had fire power bigger than players in the Middle East like Israel.

In his response, Ratu Inoke said Fiji had strong bilateral relations with Israel and its other counterparts.

He told Mr Gavoka that it was Qatar who assisted in the negotiation on the release of our Fijian troops in 2014.

Ratu Inoke said there were strategies in place by the United Nations and other international organisations to safely evacuate our Fijian troops in the Middle East should the areas they were based become too dangerous.

There are more than 800 Fijian troops currently serving in the Middle East countries like Iraq, Sinai, Lebanon and Israel, he said.

Ratu Inoke said the Fiji First Government had in place mission strategies for all overseas missions.

Edited by Ranoba Baoa

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