Fiji has received more than $91.7 million in reimbursements from the United Nations (UN) for troops serving in peacekeeping missions from 2015 to 2022.
Defence Minister Inia Seruiratu said this in Parliament last week when asked for an update on UN reimbursements for the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) soldiers sent on missions.
He said the reimbursement was $12,846,973.81 in 2015, $12,147,018.26 in 2016, $19,638,315.52 in 2017, $10,328,111.98 in 2018, $10,637,083.57 in 2019, $6,444,326.65 in 2020, $41,929.79 in 2021 and $15,709,188.79 in 2022.
“So, if we add those figures from 2015 to 2022, the total reimbursement to the Government of Fiji is around $91,780,940.37,” the minister said.
Mr Seruiratu said Fiji had a long history of supporting UN peacekeeping missions, stretching back to the country’s first contribution in 1978 to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon or UNIFIL.
He said in terms of current missions, the RFMF was engaged in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in Syria, UNIFIL, United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).
“I have also included in my response the Multinational Forces and Observers (MFO), although it is a non-UN Mission and, of course, we have the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) and of course, we have the mission in Yemen where we have one officer I believe.”
