Wellington - New Zealand's Green Party called Wednesday for the United Nations to stop recruiting soldiers from Fiji, where the military government has imposed emergency rule, as peacekeeping troops in Iraq. "It is deeply ironic that Fiji is involved in rebuilding Iraq," foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke said. "Fiji's military is more about destroying democracy than restoring it."

Locke said that 223 of the 282 Fijian soldiers and police officers serving with the UN were in Iraq.

"The UN is helping fund Fiji's military rulers by continuing to recruit Fijian military personnel for peacekeeping missions," he said.

Locke said that many former Fijian soldiers worked for British and United States' private-security firms with lucrative contracts in Iraq.

More than 2,000 Fijians were also currently serving with the British Army, he said, quoting a reply to a written question asked on February 9 in the House of Lords. (dpa)