Ratu Mara in New Zealand for treatment

Deposed Fijian president Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara is in Auckland after suffering a stroke in Vanuatu on Friday.

The 81-year-old is believed to be in a stable condition.

It is not known where he is staying.

Mara was Fiji's president when armed nationalist rebels, led by failed businessman George Speight, stormed parliament last year and took the country's first ethnic-Indian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, and most of his cabinet hostage.

He later relinquished his presidential position when the military took power and negotiated an end to the two-month political hostage crisis.