|
|
Change Your Life! |
Young Fijians call for reconciliation and tolerance |
|
News |
|
|
July 2, 2000
SUVA, Fiji, JULY 1 (AP) - A group of Fijian youths staged a day of fasting and prayer Saturday to call for greater tolerance in the political standoff that has seen the nation's Indian-led government held hostage for 43 days.
In an emotional ceremony, several dozen indigenous Fijians representing Christian youth organizations hugged and shook hands with a group of ethnic Indians in a park in the capital of Suva.
The indigenous Fijians asked the Indians for forgiveness for the ethnic violence that has torn apart the South Pacific nation in recent weeks.
"Let's surround our Indian brothers and sisters with our Christian love," said group leader Mika Yasa Mudreilagi as Fijians and Indians hugged each other and sobbed. "Please forgive us for any hurt that we have caused you."
The group was fasting and praying throughout Saturday. On May 19, gunmen led by former insurance executive George Speight stormed Parliament and took the government hostage, including deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, the first ethnic Indian to lead Fiji.
The raid was accompanied by widespread attacks on Indian homes and businesses across Fiji, a nation of 320 islands about 3,620 kilometers (2,250 miles) northeast of Sydney, Australia.
About 44 percent of Fiji's 812,000 people are Indians whose ancestors were brought here over a century ago by British colonialists seeking indentured laborers to work in the country's rich sugar cane fields.
The rebel raid and hostage standoff have raised concern in the international community that Fiji has descended into racism and intolerance.
Talks between Speight and the military - which took power 10 days after the parliament raid - broke down this week after the gunmen refused to sign an accord that would pave the way for the immediate release of the hostages.
The military then announced that they would appoint an interim civilian government without input from the hostage-takers, who had demanded a role in the administration before releasing the captives.
Most of the rebels' demands to disenfranchise Fiji's Indians have been met, including the firing of Chaudhry and the elimination of the country's 1997 multiracial constitution.
|