Nun who feared guns after 1987 coup later made peace with Rabuka

Sister Teresia Tinanisolo told the Fiji Truth and Reconciliation Commission (FTRC) today that she developed a fear of military uniforms and guns after witnessing armed soldiers intimidate schoolgirls and patrol Suva’s streets during the 1987 coup.

The 87-year-old Catholic nun from Kadavu testified at the Suva Civic Centre this morning, recounting how a soldier carrying a gun frightened 62 boarding girls under her care at St Bede's College in Savusavu when they were playing on a Sunday.

“I disliked military uniform and I disliked guns, full stop,” Sister Teresia said.

“I experienced that in many countries that I worked in. But my experience with Fiji military was that because of the guns and the uniform. And they were just foreign to me.”

She said guns were “a sign of killing” and their presence on Fiji’s streets was traumatising for civilians.

Sister Teresia described confronting a soldier who had chased the girls from their playground back to their dormitory.

“I said to him, you have frightened those girls. They said that you came to them, sent them out of the playground with a gun in hands. And I said that it’s out of order,” she said.

The missionary sister also witnessed a military parade marching through Raiwaqa towards Nabua that frightened children who ran to their mothers.

She wrote to the Fiji Times suggesting then coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka keep military parades inside their Barracks rather than on public streets.

Sister Teresia spent decades working overseas in countries including Jamaica, which she described as having the second-highest gun killing rate in the world.

Despite her criticism of the 1987 coups, Sister Teresia later reconciled with Mr Rabuka, who is now Prime Minister.

She stopped his van while he was exercising on Queen Elizabeth Drive and shook his hand.

“I would like to make peace with you,” she told him.

She recommended the Commission invite coup leaders to ask forgiveness publicly.

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