Fiji 'unity' bill gives gunmen hope, says Goff

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff says New Zealand will oppose any law in Fiji which might pave the way for gunmen to think they could overthrow a democratically elected government without penalty.

The Government's concerns about the proposed law are expected to be relayed to Fiji's Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, and other ministers in Auckland today.

Mr Qarase, who has denied his plans could result in 2000 coup leader George Speight being freed from jail, meets Prime Minister Helen Clark ahead of tonight's rugby test between the All Blacks and Fiji.

Mr Goff said Mr Qarase had said he would be happy to explain his Reconciliation, Tolerance and Unity Bill.

The bill has caused controversy in Fiji and last week soldiers sat through sittings of Parliament while it was debated to demonstrate their opposition to provisions to grant an amnesty to people who say they were involved in the coup for traditional, not criminal, reasons.

Speight led a band of former soldiers into Parliament, overthrowing the government of Fiji's first ethnic Indian Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry.

He has been jailed for treason, but it is his political party which first proposed the legislation.

So far, 2500 people have been investigated for mainly minor coup-related offences, and 1000 convicted.

Mr Qarase insists the law will not provide a general pardon for plotters such as Speight, and suspected ringleaders who have yet to be arrested.

"When I said no, I meant no," Mr Qarase said in Fiji's Parliament last week.

But critics insist that Speight will try to use the legislation to get amnesty.

Mr Chaudhry has also said it will open the way for anyone to think it is acceptable to use force to overthrow a government.

Mr Goff said yesterday New Zealand would not lecture Fiji about what it should do, and accepted Mr Qarase's desire for reconciliation and unity.

But he said New Zealand, as a "friendly" neighbour, would pass on its anxiety about the bill.

"The main concern is the concept that people who have overthrown a democratic government by force, that [they] may be exempted from the category of criminals if it was done for political reasons.

"The last thing New Zealand would want to see is any message given that would encourage some group of armed men at some time in the future to repeat what has already happened twice in Fiji."

He said New Zealand believed the rule of law should be upheld, and that people who commit acts of violence and overthrow a government were seen to be properly held to account.

Fiji's Police Commissioner, Andrew Hughes, has said he will continue with his investigations into the coup, irrespective of the new law.

Speight has claimed his coup was a fight for indigenous Fijian paramountcy.