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Speight triumphs with Ace of spades trump card |
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July 14, 2000
SIDNEY (AP) - Fiji's powerful Pacific neighbors welcomed the release Thursday of deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and 17 other hostages held by rebels. But they refused to remove the threat of sanctions if Fiji does not return to democracy. "Over the past eight weeks most of us have wondered whether the hostages would emerge unharmed and alive," New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff said. "The fact that they have now is certainly excellent news." Twenty-seven people were taken hostage in parliament May 19 by gunmen demanding that Fiji's ethnic Indian minority be stripped of political power. Chaudhry, Fiji's first prime minister of Indian ancestry, was among the 18 hostages freed Thursday. The nine others were freed earlier. "We expect that this first step will lead to the restoration of a democratic and constitutional government within the framework of Fiji's Constitution of 1997," India's government said. Goff, who has denounced rebel leader George Speight as a terrorist and called for Chaudhry's reinstatement, described the release as "one bright spot in an otherwise pretty dismal picture." New Zealand, Australia, the United States and the European Union have all threatened sanctions if Fiji does not restore democracy. Both Goff and Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Thursday that sanctions could still be imposed. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon, head of the organization representing former British colonies, warned that the EU could abandon a preferential trade agreement under which it buys Fiji's sugar - the nation's key cash crop - at up to three times the world price.
Fiji also faced an exodus of businesspeople who will want to avoid international sanctions. "I don't believe Fijians really understand the impact of isolating themselves," McKinnon said. Military leaders scrapped Fiji's multiracial constitution and pledged to bolster indigenous Fijians rights while curtailing those of ethnic Indians. They also promised amnesty to the hostage takers. "The Australian government remains profoundly disturbed at the abrogation of the Fijian constitution," Howard said. "This was a criminal act which denied a democratically elected government its constitutional right to govern in the interests of Fiji." Human rights group Amnesty International Australia slammed the rebels' immunity from prosecution, saying "the seeds of the next coup have been sown. Felix Anthony, the head of Fiji's labor union movement and a friend of Chaudhry, said the deposed prime minister would fight for reinstatement. `He's not going to be a guy who sits back and says `it's just too bad.' I expect him to stand up and fight and make it plain that he is the legitimate prime minister of Fiji," Anthony said. "I expect him to be talking to the international community and ensure that democracy is restored in Fiji and the constitution is upheld," he said. "The battle is just beginning."
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