Fiji rebels restive as Cabinet talks on hold

George Speight talks with supporters over coffee at a hotel in Suva on Friday

SUVA, Fiji (Reuters) -- Fiji remained in political limbo Tuesday as talks between military leaders and nationalist rebels stalled over the make-up of a new administration.

Rebel leader George Speight said he is growing increasingly frustrated by the apparent refusal of the military and caretaker Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to accept his candidates for a new government to lead Fiji for the next two years.

Speight, a former insurance salesman, hinted more civil unrest was likely in the racially split South Pacific nation if he did not get his way.

"The ball game is not over yet, it is just starting," Speight told Reuters.

"Don't underestimate the needs and the power of the people."

CNN SPECIAL Follow the Fiji coup with our interactive timeline     RESOURCES TIME: Free, But Still in Chains    MESSAGE BOARD Coup in Fiji

Speight plunged Fiji into a political crisis when he stormed parliament with armed rebels on May 19 in the name of indigenous Fijian rights. The group held Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister, and most of his multi-racial cabinet hostage for 56 days before releasing them on July 13.

The hostage drama at Fiji's parliament complex sparked waves of support among Fijian nationalists for Speight, who wants to limit the political and economic power of Fiji's ethnic Indians.

Indians comprise 44 percent of Fiji's approximately 800,000 population and dominate the key tourism and sugar industries, which have been battered by the political crisis.

Speight said he had held informal discussions with ailing new President Ratu Josefa Iloilo on Tuesday to press his demand that clan leader Adi Samanunu Cakobau be appointed prime minister.

Those talks were inconclusive and a wider meeting involving Speight's group, military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama and representatives of the military-backed Qarase was postponed.

Formal discussions between the three sides in the dispute would now be held on Wednesday, although a time and venue had not been agreed on, military sources in Suva said.

The military sources said Wednesday's meeting would be mediated by Ratu Inoke Takiveikata, a representative of Fiji's influential Great Council of Chiefs and high chief of the Naitasiri clan on the main island of Viti Levu.

Sources from Iloilo's office said a delegation from the president would meet Qarase at the Reserve Bank of Fiji in central Suva later on Tuesday to discuss developments.

Speight's group won many of their demands for indigenous Fijian political domination, including the scrapping of the 1997 multi-racial constitution, before freeing their hostages.

A new indigenous government under Qarase was named but Speight has rejected it because it includes none of his supporters in key cabinet positions.

He now wants Cakobau, a diplomat from a clan regarded in Fiji as close to royalty, to replace Qarase and has threatened renewed unrest of he does not get his way.

Australia, which along with New Zealand, Britain and the United States has already imposed aid, diplomatic and sporting sanctions, on Sunday threatened new sanctions if Speight or his group won places in the new government.

Independent Web site www.fijilive.com said on Tuesday that the road leading to the main hydro-electric plant at Monasavu in central Viti Levu had been blocked by rebel supporters. The plant has been held by landowners sympathetic to Speight for two weeks.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Fijian holiday commemorates suspended constitution
July 24, 2000
Fiji's former government ponders forming breakaway state
July 20, 2000
New political crisis unfolds in Fiji
July 19, 2000
New Fijian Cabinet includes no ethnic Indians
July 18, 2000
Ousted Fijian prime minister says government should be reinstated
July 15, 2000
Fiji rebels return large cache of arms to military
July 14, 2000

Australian Broadcasting Corporation Fiji coup crisis special
Fiji live coverage - Parliament Under Siege
The Official Fiji Government Site
  • Fiji Constitution
  • Office of the Prime Minister

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.