UN General Assembly
2014

to determine our own future and came to understand that we were working not for the benefit of a governing elite but for the common good. To those in the General Assembly who gave us their support, our friends, 1 extend the grateful thanks of the Fijian people. I also want to especially thank those countries that made up the Multinational Observer Group that declared our general election credible, free and fair. For the co-leaders from Australia, India, Indonesia, Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, the members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America — I offer many thanks to them all. It has been a long and sometimes traumatic journey for our nation in the 44 years since independence: four coups, a rebellion, four Constitutions and 56 days of shame in 2000 when members of our Parliament were held hostage. Fiji has struggled to be unified and cohesive; our development was retarded by our inability to think and