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Tension grows as chiefs meet again to seek coup resolution |
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May 25, 2000
SUVA, MAY 24 (AP) - Looting and arson of ethnic Indian Fijian property were reported Wednesday, as 40 tribal chiefs met for a second day in an attempt to find a peaceful solution to country's six-day government hostage crisis.
While the chiefs were meeting at a heavily guarded army barracks outside Suva, the situation in capital was tense.
A chicken processing factory was burned down overnight, and there were reports of outlying villages inhabited by minority ethnic Indians being pillaged and burned by mobs of masked men.
Late Tuesday, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he feared the coup may not end peacefully. "We're deeply concerned about the risk of bloodshed. It's an extremely ugly and unacceptable situation," he said.
Coup leader George Speight and dozens of heavily armed men have been holding Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, most of his Cabinet and government lawmakers hostage since Friday in Fiji's parliamentary complex.
About 300 coup supporters were in the complex Wednesday and an impromptu church service was held on a lawn with a choir of indigenous women singing Fijian songs. On Tuesday, hundreds of supporters stood in line to shake Speight's hand and congratulate him on his actions.
Speight claims to be acting on behalf of majority ethnic Fijians who believe they are being marginalized by Chaudhry's government, the Pacific nation's first ethnic Indian-led administration.
Sitiveni Rabuka, a former prime minister and leader of the influential tribal Great Council of Chiefs, said he was optimistic the crisis would be resolved Wednesday.
But Speight appeared intransigent, repeating his call for the resignation of President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara and accusing Rabuka of misleading the tribal chiefs.
Mara, an ethnic Fijian whose unelected position is largely ceremonial, imposed a state of emergency in Fiji and took control of the government from outside parliament after the coup.
"I don't recognize Sitiveni Rabuka's right to broker a deal anymore," Speight told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
Speight representatives presented a statement from his self-styled "Taukei Civilian Government" to the chiefs, which accused Mara of trying to shore up power for himself and of misleading the council and Fijians. "Taukei" means ethnic Fijian.
Speight and his gunmen were left in a weaker position Tuesday when the chiefs, who hold moral authority over Fiji's indigenous population, backed Mara's condemnation of the coup and demands that the hostages be released.
However, the police and ethnic Fijian-dominated army both have sided with Mara, who is trying to broker an agreement expected to involve Chaudhry being replaced by an ethnic Fijian prime minister in return for the release of the hostages.
The 40 tribal chiefs, who have little legislative power but command considerable respect in Fiji, were debating that plan and a possible pardon for those involved in the coup. The meeting was expected to last all day Wednesday.
The gunmen said late Tuesday that they would free the hostages and leave parliament only if they receive pardons and assurances that Fiji would get a new government.
Speight's gang of about 60 armed men is holding Chaudhry and 34 members of his Cabinet and governing coalition at gunpoint.
After storming parliament Friday, Speight, a failed businessman, declared himself prime minister and installed an interim government.
Chaudhry is Fiji's first prime minister from the island country's ethnic Indian minority. Since his election last year, tension between ethnic Indians, who control most of the island's commerce, and the majority indigenous Fijians has been growing.
Ethnic Indians make up about 44 percent of Fiji's population of 813,000, while indigenous Fijians account for 51 percent.
U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon have both arrived in Suva and were meeting with Mara.
In a statement, McKinnon said he hopes "to convey the Commonwealth's concern at the recent developments and reaffirm support for a speedy return to constitutional rule."
The commonwealth is made up of former British colonies, such as Fiji and Australia, and McKinnon, who is based in London, is its top administrator.
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