M A I N   N E W S

Fiji rebels smash barricades
Australian PM threatens sanctions

SUVA, May 26 (AFP) — Fijian rebels today tore down military barricades outside the besieged Parliament, forcing government soldiers who had taken over security outside the building to back off.

About 40 heavily armed men, led by coup leader George Speight, marched out of Parliament where Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry is being held hostage, and challenged the soldiers.

In wild scenes, they pulled down the coils of razor wire and dismantled the barricades. The soldiers and the rebels pointed guns at each other and screamed threats but no shots were fired.

The soldiers regrouped and negotiations began between Mr Speight and their Colonel. The coup leader eventually secured their agreement and the two sides began shaking hands.

However, one of the soldiers at the barricade told AFP they were not defecting.

"We are here to make sure the civilians do not get hurt," he said.

Earlier in the day heavily armed Fijian troops took control of security around the besieged Parliament as the nation’s political crisis appeared to be heading towards a showdown between the President and the coup plotters.

The soldiers set up roadblocks and sealed the building, preventing any more supporters of coup leader George Speight from entering. Civilians were streaming out through the gates.

The troops were from a unit which has not yet played a role in the crisis which began last Friday when Mr Speight’s men stormed the building and took Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry hostage.

In another development an unarmed platoon of the army reserve engineers, about 15 soldiers, entered Fiji’s parliamentary compound in the afternoon to offer their support to coup leader George Speight, Fiji radio reported.

"We’re coming to support the Fijian cause, for Fijian identity,’’ the platoon leader, identified as Major Savua, told radio FM 96.

"To all the people, my brothers in the army, please come and join me," he said.

Meanwhile a spokesperson for the coup plotters said President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara had sent an envoy to Mahendra Chaudhry, asking him to resign.

Meanwhile, Fiji faced an international backlash today over its traditional chiefs’ decision to back the overthrow of a democratically elected government, with the USA, the UK, and Australia leading the condemnation.

The Pacific nation was threatened with sanctions and expulsion from Commonwealth if democracy was not restored.

Fiji’s traditional chiefs plan to sacrifice ethnic Indian premier Mahendra Chaudhry and replace him with an indigenous Fijian to appease coup leader George Speight, who stormed Parliament a week ago.

They had also recommended a new constitution ensuring the country could only be ruled by indigenous Fijians, and a pardon for the rebels.

Washington called the move “inconsistent” with Fiji’s Constitution and warned of sanctions.

“The US position remains that any actions to resolve this matter should be in accordance with Fiji’s Constitution,” said state department spokesman Philip Reeker.

The consequences would be “very substantial and very detrimental to Fiji’s standing in the international community,” he added.

“We continue to recognise the democratically-elected government of Fiji.”

Australian Prime Minister John Howard also threatened sanctions and branded Speight a terrorist.

“Unless the course of action on which Fiji is now embarked changes very dramatically there will be consequences, and we will consider that in the appropriate way,” he said when asked if Australia would apply sanctions.

“If a country allows somebody to take hostage a democratically-elected Prime Minister, to hold him hostage, make demands and behave the way he’s behaved, if you give that person a pardon you are suspending the rule of law.”

He described the situation in Fiji as like “Pacific apartheid.”

“You can’t have a situation where twice in the space of 15 years, because somebody of Indian heritage has become Prime Minister, you have a coup,” he said.

Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth after two 1987 coups deposed an Indian-dominated government and was only re-admitted after its 1997 Constitution restored political rights to the ethnic Indian population.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he would recommend Fiji be expelled again if democracy was not restored.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon has convened a meeting of the Commonwealth ministerial action group in London early next month to decide what action to take.

“Aiming a loaded gun at the Constitution to marginalise sectors of Fiji’s society is totally unacceptable,” he said in a statement today.

McKinnon was in the Fijian Capital earlier this week with UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello seeking the unconditional release of all hostages and “strict adherence to democratic and constitutional principles.”