The Fiji military will have to return to the barracks. Photo / Greg Bowker
Prime Minister Helen Clark hopes the Fiji military Government will accept the call of an eminent persons' group report and hand back the prime ministership to a civilian then return to their barracks.
Saying she had been briefed on the report commissioned by Pacific Island Forum foreign ministers,
Helen Clark said: "It's a detailed analysis of what has happened and with a path forward, with which we would urge Fiji military to consider seriously.
"The report is clear the coup was not constitutional. It does call on the military to return to barracks and to see a civilian prime minister put in place."
The group was led by Vanuatu's Deputy Prime Minister, Sato Kilman, and also contained Samoa's Environment Minister, Faumuina Luiga, Papua New Guinea's retired Chief Justice, Sir Arnold Amet, and General Peter Cosgrove, the retired Chief of the Australian Defence Force.
Helen Clark said the report called for elections to be held in Fiji within 18 to 24 months, if not sooner. "That is more than enough time for people with a will to find a way," she said.
The report, which is not yet public, is due to go before a meeting of the forum's foreign ministers possibly to be held in Papua New Guinea in March.
Helen Clark said while the report did call for a civilian to be prime minister it did not specify that the man who held the position before the coup - Laisenia Qarase - should return to it.
The report was not a call for a return to the status quo but finding a way forward. "It's a report made up of people who are well respected in Fiji as they are throughout the Pacific. So I think that calls for it to be taken seriously."
The group was first mandated in Sydney last year, with the hope of mediating a peaceful solution between the then Prime Minister, Mr Qarase, and military commander and coup leader Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama.
The objective now is to make recommendations for a way forward towards peace and stability.
The commodore has shown no signs of wanting to relinquish power.
- NZPA
