NZ Govt expels Fijian diplomat

New 3:57PM Wednesday Nov 04, 2009

New Zealand has hit back at Fiji and expelled their Acting Head of Mission in New Zealand, Kuliniasi Seru Savou.

The move was expected after New Zealand’s Deputy High Commissioner Todd Cleaver and Australia’s High Commissioner James Bartley were told to leave Fiji.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully has just announced that Mr Cleaver was declared persona non grata by Fiji this afternoon and was instructed to leave the country.

“At about 3pm this afternoon the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here, at my request, invited the Acting Head of Mission in here and made the same sort of steps,” Mr McCully told reporters.

“Mr Savou was declared persona non grata and asked to leave New Zealand.”

Mr Cleaver was New Zealand’s acting head of mission after Fiji previously ousted High Commissioner Michael Green then his successor, acting High Commissioner Caroline McDonald.

- NZPA