Fiji Officer faces the axe over media report [1]
Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 11:15. Updated on Wednesday, July 22, 2015 - 11:22.
The operations officer for the Fiji battalion in Sinai, Major Ilai Moceica, is likely to be sent on the next flight home after a local media report misquoted him.
Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Qiliho told Fijilive that "as a result of the misreporting by the Fiji Times, Major Moceica is likely to lose his job".
The report carried the headline, "Palestinians flood Fiji location", and mentioned that Fiji soldiers are monitoring the movement of thousands of Palestinians across the Egyptian border.
According to Qiliho, Major Moceica had explained to Egyptian authorities that he had been misquoted, but his fate is yet to be decided.
Qiliho explained that Palestinians did not flood the Fiji location as reported.
Fiji soldiers were stationed at a checkpoint just 100 metres away from where militants blew up the heavy steel wall along the border last week after Israel sealed off all its crossings with Gaza.
The Fiji military confirms that all its men are safe. Fijilive/Pacific Media Watch, 30/01/08.