Chiefs call for Suva hostages to be released

Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs yesterday called on rebel leader George Speight to release his hostages but stopped short of announcing definite measures to end the crisis that has gripped the country since a band of gunmen seized the Prime Minister on Friday.

Even council chairman Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka said he doubted that Speight would agree to the request.

However, he said the chiefs would decide today on a proposal to break the deadlock, put forward by the President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.

While he would not discuss the details, he suggested that the ethnic Indian Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, would have to step down.

The chiefs backed Ratu Mara - who has been under pressure to quit - in his efforts to end the crisis.

But rebel leader George Speight said Ratu Mara had to go.

"We ask that he reassesses his stand and step down before the situation escalates and becomes uncontrollable by any authority in Fiji."

Ratu Mara has continued to ignore the real situation and failed to see that the majority of Fijians did not want the 1997 constitution which allowed ethnic Indians to take part in politics.

New Zealand yesterday warned Fiji that it could be booted out of the Commonwealth for good if the hostage crisis was used as an excuse to subvert the country's constitution to the advantage of indigenous Fijians.

Wellington is realistic about Mr Chaudhry's chances of surviving the crisis as prime minister, but Foreign Minister Phil Goff insists resolution of the crisis within the constitution is a bottom-line issue for New Zealand. He argued any subversion of that document should result in Fiji's exclusion from the Commonwealth, this time possibly permanently.

Mr Goff also hit out yesterday at travel agents who are encouraging people to holiday in Fiji despite a Government warning.

"While it may well be safe at the moment, particularly outside of Suva, the situation is sufficiently volatile that it could change without notice at any time.

"I would repeat the warning that Foreign Affairs is giving to people that if the travel is not essential, they should defer that travel."

But some tourism authorities struck back, saying the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warning was premature.

A spokesman for Air New Zealand, Alastair Carthew, said the airline was ensuring people were aware of the Government warning.

"What people are telling us is that Nadi is so far from Suva, they feel it's safe to go."

Air Pacific regional director Glenn Ormsby said its passenger numbers had not dropped either.

A spokeswoman for the Fiji Visitors Bureau, Penny Henderson, said the Government advice was harming the tourism industry in Fiji. She questioned the need for the warning, saying no other countries apart from Japan had gone so far.

It was another day of high drama in the parliamentary compound, with hundreds of Fijians arriving to show their support for the rebels.

* Three hostages were released, including junior MP Michael Columbus, who was said to look weak as he was led away.

* The acting leader of the Coalition Government, Ratu Tevita Momoedonu, said Mr Chaudhry was suffering serious health problems and severe stress after having had a gun held to his head on Monday.

* For the third time since the crisis began on Friday shots were fired in the parliamentary compound. Witnesses reported a burst of automatic fire through the main gates of the compound.

* New Zealand soldiers training in Fiji were blamed for Speight putting his men on alert, fearing a foreign bid to storm Parliament House. A Defence Force spokesman said five Five Royal New Zealand Air Force people had inadvertently passed close to Parliament and it was not their intention to be provocative.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Don McKinnon, and a United Nations special emissary, Sergio de Mello, were expected in Suva last night to tell Fijians that they risk international isolation if the crisis is not resolved satisfactorily.

However, Speight emphatically rejected international mediation.

"It will hinder. Can't you people understand we have to resolve the matter ourselves?"

- STAFF REPORTERS, AGENCIES

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