Sir Paul Reeves is on a nine-day visit to Fiji. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Sir Paul Reeves is on a nine-day visit to Fiji. Photo / Brett Phibbs
KEY POINTS:
Former New Zealand Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves has urged Fiji to go back to general elections as soon as possible.
Sir Paul _ who headed Fiji's 1997 Constitutional Review Commission after an earlier coup _ is visiting Fiji in his capacity as the Commonwealth's envoy, at the invitationof the latest coup leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama.
Yesterday he met the Citizens Constitutional Forum's chief executive officer, the Rev Akuila Yabaki.
"He told me he wants to see that Fiji goes back to a general election as soon as," Mr Yabaki told the Fiji Times.
Sir Paul was supposed to meet ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, who led Fiji for six years until he was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006, but Qarase was busy in court.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption between 1992 and 1995, before he assumed power after a failed coup in 2000.
Sir Paul's nine-day visit is his second round of talks with the interim Government.
He is scheduled to return to Auckland tomorrow.
Mr Yabaki said he highlighted to Sir Paul the importance of the international community's involvement in preparing Fiji for a general election.
