|
|
Change Your Life! |
Fiji's president fires country's democratically elected government |
|
News |
|
|
May 28, 2000 SUVA, Fiji, MAY 27 (AP) - Fiji's president announced Saturday that he has fired the country's democratically elected government, which is being held hostage by an armed gang, and will appoint a new caretaker administration.
President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara also said that rebel leader George Speight and the six gunmen who stormed parliament on May 19 and have held Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and more than 30 members of his government hostage would probably be granted immunity from prosecution for their roles in the coup attempt.
Chaudhry, who was elected prime minister last year, is the first leader of Fiji from its ethnic Indian minority. Speight claims to be acting on behalf of the Pacific island nation's majority ethnic Fijians, and wants to reduce the powers that Indians can have in the government.
Mara, who said he would appoint the new government by Monday, made his announcement several hours after the rebels started a gunfight with Fijian soldiers at a roadblock outside parliament in which at least three people were injured.
Mara said the timing of his announcement was not related to the shooting. But the decision signaled he was accepting two of Speight's three main demands: a new government and immunity for the rebels. Mara did not accept the third - that he resign as president.
Mara's move was the latest offer to Speight, a failed Fijian businessman, in an attempt to bring an end to the hostage standoff.
Speight did not immediately react, but the U.N. secretary general and several countries, including Australia and the United States, have already criticized Mara, the island's tribal chiefs and its military for failing to crack down on the coup by the rebels.
Earlier Saturday, three people were injured in a gun battle between government soldiers and rebels holding Chaudhry and his government lawmakers at gun point in parliament.
The shots were fired about 400 meters (1,320 feet) from the parliament compound where Speight and about 60 gunmen were holding their hostages. Speight has declared himself prime minister and appointed his own cabinet.
Ethnic Indians, who own many shops and businesses in Fiji, have seen some of them attacked since the coup began.
Saturday's shootout with military forces, the first since the government takeover began, occurred after about 200 supporters of the coup and at least three of the armed rebels left the parliamentary compound, shouting: "We're going to take down the roadblocks."
Confronting about eight soldiers at a roadblock, the supporters tried to grab the soldiers' weapons and pushed one of them to the ground. The other soldiers fired warning shots. The rebels shot back, setting off a gunbattle that lasted for about five minutes.
The soldiers then withdrew to a second checkpoint along the road, and the rebels and their supporters eventually returned to Parliament, marching, singing a song and carrying an army tent they had pulled down.
Inspector Sarah Bernard, a police spokeswoman, said two soldiers were injured, one in the right shoulder and the other in a leg.
Jerry Harmer, 38, of Britain, a senior producer and cameraman for Associated Press Television News, was shot in the right wrist.
Doctors who treated him at Suva's Colonial War Memorial hospital said Harmer's condition was good.
Speight did not appear to be involved in the confrontation. Saturday's gunbattle occurred one day after Speight and his supporters left the parliament compound and walked to two barbed-wire checkpoints guarded by armed soldiers.
At the first barricade, Speight's allies scuffled with soldiers. During an angry altercation, one rebel and an army officer pointed their guns at each other but no shots were fired.
Moments later, Speight shook hands with the lieutenant who was the senior officer at the roadblock, and a rebel supporter pushed aside the barricade and more backers joined the pro-rebel crowd.
Speight then walked to a second roadblock, talked with soldiers, and cleared the way for more supporters.
The activity outside the complex Friday came as a committee of the Great Council of Chiefs - the supreme body representing Fiji's many tribal groups - negotiated with Speight in an effort to end the
Eight-day crisis. After a two-hour meeting, committee spokesman Epeli Kanaimaii said no resolution had been reached but that the talks would resume Saturday.
Speight is demanding immunity from prosecution, changes in Fiji's constitution to impose limitations on the powers of ethnic Indians, and the resignation of President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, an indigenous Fijian.
Mara, a figurehead in the government, has been the country's acting leader since the coup began and he declared a state of emergency.
The tribal chiefs on Thursday said Speight and his men should be pardoned after facing prosecution. They agreed that Chaudhry's government should be replaced with an interim government in charge of amending the constitution to enshrine political superiority for indigenous Fijians.
Although the chiefs' council has little constitutional power, it holds moral sway over Fiji's indigenous people.
The United Nations has joined Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the United States and Japan in criticizing the tribal leaders for agreeing to any of the rebels' demands and failing to ask the military and police to crack down on Speight and end the coup.
But the rebel leaders appear to have strong support in the police force and the island's military, and the armed forces have repeatedly allowed Fijians to enter parliament to join the armed rebels. |